TLD.sc Your source of information on Top Level Domains

Nominet (the English registry) is considering the release of 1 and 2 character and some other reserved .uk names. The registry doesn’t think there’s still a reason why these names couldn’t be released. They’ve just started a consultation on the possible release of those domain names. This consultation will end on June 8th 2010. After this consultation the registry will decide whether they will or won’t release those domain names.

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Norid (the .no registry) is considering to make the Norwegian extension also available for individuals. Right now, only companies can register a domain name under the .no extension and they need to meet very strict conditions. For instance, both the owner and the administrative contact of the domain need to be Norwegian business entities and each company can only register 20 .no domain names.

Now the Norwegian registry is considering the release of the .no extension for individuals, similar questions pop up? Is it necessary to release the .no domain for individuals? Should individuals document rights to the name they apply for? Should there be a limit on the number of domains per person? How the transition to the new rules should be carried out?

Still lots of questions the Norwegian registry need to answer. We’ll definitely keep you posted about this issue.

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As from today, March 4th 2010, filing a dispute resolution with SIDN (.nl registry) can be done completely electronic. Practically all written correspondence will now happen via email. For instance: filing the actual complaint with WIPO, the organisatio which treats this dispute resolutions, can now only be done electronically. Previously, the complainant had to send an email to WIPO and he had to send 5 copies of his complaint via regular mail.

The changes being made to the Dispute Resolution Regulations for .nl Domain Names follow similar changes to the corresponding regulations for .com and certain other domain names, which came into effect on 1 March. For those names everything happens electronically from now on.

Once a complaint has been filed, an email will be send to the email address of the owner of this .nl domain name. To make sure the owner is fully aware of the complaint, he will also receive a letter about it via regular mail.

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bNamed is going to release an EPP-interface which is completely compatible with the EPP of SIDN (.nl registry). ‘It has been taken care of that our EPP for each possible extension is entirely compatible with the EPP within DRS5 of SIDN,’ says Bart Mortelmans, manging director of bNamed.

This means the following: if you have already automated the .nl extension via EPP or when you switch to the EPP-interface of SIDN, you’re also done with the automatisation of approximately 400 other extensions which can be easily registered via bNamed.

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A while ago, we posted an article telling you that the Colombian registry was going to relax his registration rules. For instance local presence isn’t required anymore, individuals can register a Colombian domain name, notarized paperwork isn’t needed any longer, transfers are now allowed,…

In that article, we also mentioned the Colombian registry was going to release the .co domain. We now have more information about this. The release will happen in 5 phases:

1) March 1st - March 30th: grandfathering phase => everyone who has a registered .com.co, .net.co, .org.co,… domain name can register this domain under the .co extension. You only can register the exact same name and the name you have already registered, needed to be registered before July 30th 2008.

2) April 1st - April 20th: local sunrise => everyone who has a trademark registered in Colombia can register this trademark under the .co domain.

3) April 26th - June 10th: international sunrise => everyone who has a registered trademark can register this trademark under the .co extension as long as your trademark was registered and was in full force and effect on or before July 30th 2008.

During this 3 phases all applications will be handled one by one.

4) June 21st - July 13th: landrush => during this phase everyone who wishes to do so, can register a premium domain at a higher price.

5) July 20th: general availability => everyone who wishes to do so, can register a domain under the .co extension.

During the 2 mentioned above phases, applications will be treated on a first come, first served basis.

We don’t have any information yet about the prices during the landrush. As soon as we’ve got more information about this, you’ll be able to pre-register your .co domain names via bNamed.

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The Chinese registry has adapted his policy for the registration of .cn names by foreign companies. Foreign companies now have the possibility to register a .cn domain name. However you need to meet some strict conditions:

1) A foreign company needs to have a Chinese branch. Only the Chinese branch can apply for a .cn domain name.

2) Paperwork is required in order to register a .cn domain name. All this paperwork needs to be send back to the register within 3 days after your application:

• Your registrar will provide you a registration document. This document needs to be signed, printed on letterheaded paper and stamped with the company seal/stamp.
• You need to provide a business certificate from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
• You need to provide a copy of the identity card of the person who has signed the registration document. This person needs to own a valid Chinese ID.

If your Chinese branch isn’t registered in the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, your domain name will be put on the status ’serverhold’. Once you can provide a business certificate and the other documents are approved, your domain name will be put on the status ‘ok’. Once this is done, you have registered the domain name.

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Sunday morning, February 14th 2010, the 1 millionth .be domain name was registered. DNS.be (.be registry) is very pleased with the reach of this new milestone. At the end of December 2009, 977,998 .be domain names were registered. The reach of the amount of 1 million .be names by half February 2010 is only positive.

Together with this great news, DNS.be also announced that 2009 was a great year for .be registrations. Last year, 232,746 new .be names were registered, which is 4,4% more than during 2008 when 222,919 new names were registered.

Another evolution is that more and more individuals start registering .be names. During 2008, 30% of the population did so, this number rose to 34% during last year.

Finally we note that 7 to 10 registered .be domain names are active on the Internet. The other 30% of the registered domain names are for instance being used for the creation of private email addresses.

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The Surinamese registry has changed the rules to register a domain name under the .sr extension. Until recently, only Surinamese companies could register a name under this domain. This has changed now.

Everyone who wishes to do so, both companies and individuals, can now register a domain name under the .sr extension. Those names can be registered per year.

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As from today, some new changes start for .lu domain names.

Firstly, the .lu registry removes the required local presence. As from today, a administrative contact person in Luxembourg is no longer needed to be able to register a .lu domain name.

Secondly, the .lu registry has started today with the release of .lu IDN domain names. The sunrise for .lu IDN domain names has started today and will end on March 31st.

During the sunrise very strict restrictions apply in order to register a .lu IDN name. The domain names eligible during the sunrise period are those derived from an existing domain name by replacing one or more characters with the same base character with a diacritic, or by applying the general replacement convention (e.g. ü=ue).

An IDN must be registered to the same holder (same name, same address) as the similar domain name. For instance only the owner of cafe.lu will be able to register café.lu

From April 1st on, everyone who wishes to do so, can register a .lu IDN domain name. From then on, applications will be handled on a first come, first served basis.

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DENIC (.de registry) has changed the rules to transfer a .de domain name. From February 1st, an authorisation key (auth key) will be required in order to transfer a .de name. Your current registrar needs to provide you this code.

Up until now, all you had to do, when you wanted to transfer a .de name, was inform your current registrar about your wish to transfer your domain name. This was neccessary since your current registrar had to approve the transfer explicitly. This won’t be needed any longer. Once you have passed the auth key to your new registrar, the transfer will be completed shortly after.

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