Digital Branding Blog

The .me Landrush period began June 6. Companies are registering .me names to add power to their marketing messages. From now until June 24, DBM customers can reserve the most desirable .me domain names. Open Registration for .me will begin July 17 on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition, this ccTLD is unrestricted allowing anyone to register without restrictions to local presence or Intellectual Property Rights (IPR's). Two-year minimums are required on all .me domain names registered during the Landrush and initial Open Registration periods.

Posted by VeriSign DBMS at 4:10 PM | Permalink

DBMS is now accepting applications for the new Montenegro .ME ccTLD. The Sunrise period for trademark owners starts on May 6, 2008 and extends through May 16, 2008 .ME is expected to be in high demand for both personalized web addresses and for businesses. The extension will enable the creation of numerous catch phrases for marketing purposes, and companies are advised to register early to reserve key domain names.

Due to the expected demand, customers are encouraged to submit applications as far in advance of the Sunrise application deadline as possible. Please note; orders that are placed in advance of the registry processing period will be indicated with an "On Hold" status In the DBM. The status will update once the registry begins processing applications. Contact your client service manager for special pricing for this in-demand domain name.

Continue reading "ME Sunrise Begins May 6" »

Posted by VeriSign DBMS at 1:42 PM | Permalink

MYNIC Berhard announced the opening of the .MY domain names to the public on March 25, 2008, on a first-come, first-served basis for all Malaysian entities and individuals. Applicants may apply for any number of second level domain names during the registration, and will need to submit supporting documents as required by the MYNIC terms and conditions.

Your VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services client services representative is available to assist with this or other domain registration needs, or for additional information related to this announcement.

Posted by VeriSign DBMS at 11:53 AM | Permalink

On March 14th, the NIC.pr registry announced starting support for Portuguese, Spanish German and French character sets. VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services can process customer requests for these newly announced IDN's. More Details

Posted by VeriSign DBMS at 12:15 PM | Permalink

NIC-Internet Costa Rica announced on March 1, 2008 that the ".CR", 2nd level domain registration is available as of March 3rd. There is no Sunrise or Land Rush period for registration. Current third level domain holders will be given priority rights for 90 days (until May 31, 2008) to register an equivalent second level domain.

Posted by VeriSign DBMS at 10:54 AM | Permalink

The Serbian National Register of Internet Domains announced the availability of ".RS" domain names. The current ".YU" domains will continue to be supported through September 30, 2009. There is no sunrise period for the; however current ".YU" domains have been reserved for 6 months under the ".RS" extension to provide current domain holders priority registration. New registrations are unlimited and unrestricted when registered through VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services, and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Posted by VeriSign DBMS at 3:27 PM | Permalink

Registrations for domain names for Tokelau, .TK, are now available via VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services. The minimum registration period is for three years. The DotTK registry is a joint venture of the Government of Tokelau, its communication company Teletok and BV Dot TK, a privately held company.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 6:28 PM | Permalink

The Sunrise Period for second-level .PE registrations will be open through December 31. During this period, all third-level .PE registrants can request a corresponding second-level .PE domain name. All applications will be approved based on an existing third-level domain. An IDN reservation period will be open from November 12 - January 12. Third-level registrants will be able to reserve the internationalized version of both the second-level and third-level domain name during this time.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 6:28 PM | Permalink

The first phase of the Sunrise Period for second-level .MY domain names will close on December 31, 2007. The Malaysian registry, MYNIC, began accepting registrations for second-level .MY domain names as of November 1. This is the first time the registry has made second-level domain names available. Previously, only third-level domain names (such as 'abc123.com.my') could be registered. The first phase gives priority to entities or individuals who had registered active third-level .MY domain names as of October 26, 2007. The second phase, from January 9 - February 29, will give priority to Malaysian companies and individuals.

Continue reading "Reminder: Sunrise Period for Second-Level Malaysian Domains Ends December 31 (.MY)" »

Posted by Tempy Wright at 12:06 PM | Permalink

An increasing number of companies are registering .CN domain names in an effort to secure their place in the Chinese Internet market. As of Oct. 1, there were more than 7.1 million registered .CN domains. Chinese companies are registering them for many reasons, including the ability to show other companies that they are a localized, China-based service, as well as to gain legal protection. Disputes about domain names are resolved in the country which owns it, so Chinese companies can avoid having to deal with foreign laws that they are unfamiliar with. Also, since disputes are decided in China, domestic companies have a large advantage over multinational corporations applying for the same domain names.

While many multinational companies have registered .CN domains to appeal to Chinese Internet users, a number of disputes involving cybersquatters have occurred, leading to problems for brand owners. China Internet Network Information Center, the .CN registry, recently released an updated definition of cybersquatting in an effort to better resolve disputes.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 10:45 AM | Permalink

The Sunrise Period for second-level .PE registrations will be open October 8 - December 31. During this period, all third-level .PE registrants can request a corresponding second-level .PE domain name. Registrations during this period will not be on a first-come, first-served basis. All applications will be approved based on an existing third-level domain. An IDN reservation period will be open from November 12 - January 12. Third-level registrants will be able to reserve the internationalized version of both the second-level and third-level domain name during this time. Open registrations begin December 12. The following IDN characters will be accepted - á, é, í, ó, ú, ñ, ü - as well as other characters from the Spanish and Catalan alphabet.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 1:13 PM | Permalink

SIDN, the Dutch registry, plans to introduce numerical .NL domains next January. A Sunrise Period for holders of registered Benelux and Community trademarks or trade names starts December 1, 2007. A numerical domain name consists exclusively of digits (e.g. 1234.nl) or of a combination of digits and a hyphen (e.g. 12-34.nl). Numerical .NL domains will go live and be open for registration without restrictions at the end of January 2008.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 12:05 PM | Permalink

MYNIC, the Malaysian registry, will begin accepting registrations for second-level .MY domain names as of November 1. This is the first time the registry has made second-level domain names available. Previously, only third-level domain names (such as 'abc123.com.my') could be registered. The registry is launching second-level domain names in two phases. The first phase, from November 1 - December 31, gives priority to entities or individuals who registered active third-level .MY domain names as of October 26, 2007. The second phase, from January 9 - February 29, will give priority to Malaysian companies and individuals.

Continue reading "Sunrise Period for Second-Level Malaysian Domains Begins November 1 (.MY)" »

Posted by Tempy Wright at 10:17 AM | Permalink

Unrestricted registrations for .GY domain names are available once again. The registry had previously suspended requests. Requests may be made for both second- and third-level domain names, including .GY, .COM.GY, .CO.GY and .NET.GY. There is no limit to the number of domain names that may be registered.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 10:15 AM | Permalink

ESNIC, the Spanish registry, will launch a Sunrise Period for .ES Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) on October 1. The Sunrise Period will go through October 30, 2007. Applicants must have registered the corresponding English-language .ES domain name prior to June 1, 2007 to qualify for the Sunrise Period. The Land Rush launch date has yet to be announced.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 1:23 PM | Permalink

Well-known brands such as Dell Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Marriott International Inc. are among companies that have joined a new coalition lobbying Congress for tougher laws targeting people who seek to profit from their brand names and use them to commit online fraud. The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse has hired law firm Alston and Bird LLP to persuade federal lawmakers of the need to crack down against those who claim Web addresses, or domain names, that include -- or even resemble -- a legitimate company's trademark.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 4:25 PM | Permalink

The June INTA Bulletin reports that South Africa has launched a new domain name dispute resolution procedure to provide a cost-efficient, fast and practical solution to .CO.ZA disputes.

Two entities have been accredited to administer the new dispute resolution procedure: the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL) and the Arbitration Foundation of South Africa (AFSA). Complaints regarding a CO.ZA domain name can be filed with either of these organizations. The new .CO.ZA regulations are similar to those WIPO follows in administering the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Previously, trademark owners in South Africa were obliged to institute trademark infringement proceedings if they discovered a third party had registered a .CO.ZA domain name that incorporated a registered trademark. Since .CO.ZA is not regulated by ICANN's UDRP, complaints cannot be filed through WIPO as they can for other domain names.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 9:23 AM | Permalink

This is the final reminder that Norid, the Norwegian registry, will launch numeric domain names for .NO on June 13.

The launch schedule is as follows:

June 12: Norid will stop accepting registration requests. Applications received prior to the shut-down will be processed according to the current domain name policy.

June 13: The registry will begin accepting applications again. Applications for numeric domain names will be sorted into a separate queue for lot-drawing. With a few exceptions, all other applications will be processed normally.

June 15: Norid will stop accepting registration requests. If an organization applies multiple times for the same domain name, it will be removed from the lot-drawing queue.

June 18: The Norwegian Post- and Telecommunications Authority will proceed over the drawing of lots. This will randomly determine the order in which the applications will be processed, in cases where there is more than one applicant per name. Norid will then process the applications in the order determined by the NPTA.

June 19: Registrations re-open on a first-come, first-served basis.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 2:28 PM | Permalink

Corporate Domain Name Management customers can now request registrations for Mozambique (.MZ), specifically .CO.MZ and .ORG.MZ. Requests can be entered via the Digital Brand Manager. The DNS set up must indicate at least two active name servers. Mozambique has a population of approximately 20 million people and is located in Southeastern Africa between South Africa and Tanzania.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 2:16 PM | Permalink

Fundacio PuntCAT, the registry for .CAT, has begun enforcing requirements that all active Web sites contain content in Catalan, the Romance language spoken in Catalonia in eastern Spain (related to Spanish and Occitan). As a sponsored TLD, the registry has the right to delete domain names that do not meet this requirement. Companies that do not wish to or plan to have Web site content in Catalan may choose to request a Defensive Registration in order to prevent a name from being registered by another party.

Posted by Tempy Wright at 2:15 PM | Permalink