NetNames launches in Germany
NetNames has launched a new office in Germany, in order to
further protect the corporate identity of the German, Austrian and
Swiss markets. With .de now the second most popular domain
extension, it is clear that there is a genuine requirement for
guarding against cyber-squatting and brand infringement in this
region. And the recent release of the .eu suffix only adds to the
dangers affecting European companies' intellectual property.
NetNames has appointed Bernd Beiser as Sales Manager for Germany,
Austria and Switzerland. Bernd has more than 20 years experience in
IT sales with companies such as IBM, Digital and Alcatel.
Sunrise
period starts for .eu
The restricted sunrise period for the new .eu Top Level Domain (TLD)
started on 7 December. The .eu registry, EURid, began taking
applications from registered trademark holders, public bodies and
holders of geographical indicators, at 11am (CET = Central European
Time). The media reported that EURid accepted some 40,000
applications within the first 15 minutes of launch.
So far EURid has accepted 140,663 applications for a total of
105,419 domain names. 99,520 have been applications under the right
of a registered national trademark; 28,342 have been under the right
of a registered community trademark; 11,894 have applied as Public
Bodies; and 907 as holders of geographical indicators or
designations of origin.
Unsurprisingly, sex.eu has been the most requested domain name,
with 234 applications - although whether someone will actually be
able to prove they own a valid right to 'sex' is highly debatable.
So far, supporting documentary evidence has been received by the
Validation Agent for 13,819 (less than 10%) of the applications.
Applicants have only 40 days from EURid's receipt of an application
in which to supply the required documentation, which will be
reviewed to determine whether the applicant has a genuine right to
the domain name applied for.
EURid has provided a WHOIS facility at http://www.whois.eu
and a real-time status report (showing the current total number of
applications, a top 10 of domains requested and a breakdown of
country share) at http://status.eurid.eu.
So far, most (35.7%) of the applications have come from entities
based in Germany, with 10.5% coming from the UK.
.travel update
.travel will be released on a first-come, first-served basis on 1
January 2006. The domain is currently in the last pre-authentication
period, during which applicants can ascertain what domains they are
in a position to register from 1 January. After 1 January,
businesses in the travel industry will be able to pre-authenticate
themselves and apply for a .travel domain immediately afterwards
instead of having to wait for the end of the pre-authentication
period, as is currently the case.
Place Names (such as cities, heritage sites and national parks)
are currently unavailable for registration as .travel domains. Those
that have not been reserved by Tralliance, the .travel registry, by
31 December will be released for general registration to eligible
entities in early January. Government Authorities will be given
priority in registering such names, but other entities will be able
to apply for Place Names at http://www.gtld.com,
with allocation of successful applications occurring after 31 March.
The Place Names reserved list can be found at http://www.tralliance.info/PlaceNames/index.aspx.
For more information on place names policy, please visit http://www.tralliance.info/pna.htm.
Further anti-trust lawsuits against ICANN
The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers recently
held their 24th International Public Meeting in Vancouver. One of
the topics discussed was ICANN's recent settlement with VeriSign
over the control of the .com and .net registries - the public were
given the opportunity to comment on this subject.
Just before the meeting began, two groups calling themselves the
World Association of Domain Name Developers (WADND), and the
Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CFIT) launched suits against ICANN
and VeriSign in Californian courts, claiming that the agreement is
anti-competitive. Unlike the 2001 agreement, which placed a ceiling
on the cost of .com and .net domains, the 2005 agreement could allow
VeriSign to raise prices by 7% a year from the beginning of 2007.
The new agreement, which is still not finalised, would represent
the end of a long-standing dispute between the two bodies - VeriSign
itself launched an anti-trust lawsuit against ICANN after the
blocking of its 'Site Finder' service in September 2003.
An ICANN representative dismissed the suits as "attempts to
manipulate the public comment process".
.xxx delayed further
A final decision on the future of the .xxx domain, intended to
denote adult content, was supposed to be made at the Vancouver ICANN
meeting - however the topic was shelved from the agenda. ICANN
indicated that more time was needed to review a report on .xxx by
its own Governmental Advisory Committee. It is believed that the US
government has played a major part in delaying the progress of this
domain, after a large numbers of complaints were made to the US
Chamber of Commerce when the initial approval of .xxx was announced
earlier this year.
4,000,000 .org domains registered
The Public Interest Registry, registry operator for the .org TLD,
recently announced that the number of .org registrations had passed
the 4 million mark.
.org was created in 1984 and has grown to be the third largest
generic TLD and the fifth largest TLD including country-codes.
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Copyright NetNames 2005. All rights reserved.
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