TLD.sc Your source of information on Top Level Domains

A few days ago, we already posted a message telling you that the .so registry (Somalia) was planning a relaunch of the .so extension during the fall of 2010. The relaunch would happen in 3 phases. We now have some more information:

- 1/11/2010 - 30/11/2010: sunrise
- 1/12/2010 - 15/12/2010: auction of sunrise names
- 16/12/2010 - 9/2/2011: landrush
- 10/2/2011 - 28/2/2011: auction of landrush names
- 1/3/2011: open registrations

During the sunrise a domain name needs to be registered per 3 years, during the landrush and open registrations, a so domain name can be registered per year.

During the sunrise, owners of a registered trademark will get the chance to register the exact same name under the .so domain. If 2 or more persons apply for the same name, the domain name will be sold during an auction after the sunrise. Only the persons who filed an application can participate at this auction.

During the landrush, everyone who wishes to do so can register a domain name under the .so extension. Probably 2 or more people will apply for certain domain names during this phase. If so, those names will be sold during an auction after the landrush.

On March 1st, the open registrations will start. From then on, applications will be treated on a first come, first served basis.

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The Somalian registry plans a relaunch of the so domain during the autumn of 2010. The .so-extension was already released in August 1997 but the registry decided to end registrations at the end of 1998 after a series of technical problems. However, now a relaunch of this extension has been announced. The relaunch would start with a sunrise during the autumn of 2010. During this sunrise, owners of a registered trademark will be given the chance to register the exact same name under the .so-extension. The sunrise will be followed by a landrush and the general availability.

At the moment, there’s no more information about exact data, prices or possible restrictions to register a .so domain name. Once we’ve received more info, we’ll keep you posted.

In fact the .so extension is the countrycode extension for Somalia but of course, it also offers a nice possibilty to register an original domain name. We’re already looking forward to the first who’ll register itis.so, famo.so or toldyou.so.

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Domainregistry.my (the Maleysian registry) plans the introduction of IDN domain names during the 4th quarter of 2010. At the moment, IDN domain names are being registered in a testing environment in 3 languages, Chinese, Jawi and Tamil. During the course of the 4th quarter, it would become possible for anyone to register a .my IDN domain name.

Internationalised Domain Names, the so called IDN names, are domain names which also contains non Latin characters. By introducing IDN, the .my extension is added to the list of extensions which offer IDN domain names. This list is getting longer and contains amongst others .lu, .eu and .com for some time now.

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On August 18th 2010 around 12pm, the 4 millionth .nl domain name was registered. The domain name, tomgoesusa.nl, was registered by Tom ten Heerdt from Didam. SIDN (.nl registry) is very pleased with this 4 millionth registration.

With those 4 million registrations, the .nl extension is doing a very good job. There are only more names registered under the .de, .uk and .cn domain, which makes the .nl extension the 4th largest country extension worldwide. Considering the fact that the Netherlands count 16 million inhabitants, this means that 1 out of 4 Dutchmen has registered a .nl domain name. This makes The Netherlands the country with the highest domain name density.

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Google will soon treat the Colombian extension, .co, as a generic extension (gTLDs) rather than as a country extension (ccTLD). Normally Google mainly makes sure that a ccTLD is highly ranked in the country where the ccTLD stands for. If someone in Colombia is searching for some information about a particular topic through Google, Google will make sure that websites with a .co domain name that contains information covering the subject are ranked higher than sites from other countries.

Besides the ccTLDs, you also got the gTLDs, the generic extensions such as .com, .net, .org … These extensions can not be linked to a country and are seen by Google as international extensions. Whether you’re from Belgium or from Canada looking for information about a particular topic, you make as much chance of ending up on a site that makes use of a generic extension.

So now Google has decided to handle the .co domain, which is a country extension, as a generic extension. This will only happen if the content of the websit is globally targeted.

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Recenlty CNNIC (Chinese registry) has been sending e-mails to the owners of .cn domain names. Those e-mails are meant to verify the identity of the owner of each domain name. The e-mails contain a so called ‘confirmation link’ which needs to be activated within 15 days by clicking on it. CNNIC has already confirmed that they won’t delete names of which the link hasn’t been activated within 15 days. They’ll probably send a reminder. It isn’t clear yet if any action will be taken against the domain names of which the identity of the owner hasn’t been verified. However, we do advise you to click on the link.

If you receive an e-mail about your .cn domain name and you’ve got any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll be glad to help you.

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The general availability of the .co-extension (Colombia) starts today. This means that from now on, everyone who wishes to do so can register a domain name under this extension. Applications will be treated on a first come, first served basis.

Due to the huge resemblance with the .com extension, this domain is very popular with cybersquatters. Moreover, many interesting names are still available under the .co-domain. So don’t hesitate any longer and register your domin name under this extension.

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The landrush for the .co-extension (Colombia) which started on June 21st has been extended until July 16th. Normally the landrush would have ended on July 13th but this phase has now been extended with 3 days.

During this landrush, everyone who wishes to do so, can register a domain name under the .co extension. All applications will be treated by the registry. If, on July 16th, there are several applications for 1 domain name, this domain name will be sold during an auction. Only the people who filed an application for this domain name can participate in the auction.

After the landrush the general availibilty will start on July 20th. The main difference between a landrush and general availibilty registration will be the price. During the general availibilty applications will also be treated on a first come, first served basis.

The .co-registry also says that, despite the huge success of the landrush, many interesting names are still available under the .co-extension. Furthermore the registry also repeats that this extension is very popular with cybersquatters since it only differs one letter from the .com-domain. Therefore the registry advices everybody to protect his/her domain name under the .co-extension.

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The release of the .ee-extension (Estonia) really started today. The technical problems which the registry was facing the past few days have now been resolved and now they can start with processing the applications for .ee domain name registrations. As mentioned before, the severe restrictions which applied for .ee-registrations are lifted and from now on everyone who wishes to do so can register a domain name under the .ee-extension.

bNamed notices that the most pre-registrations were successfully registered. However, many interesting names are still available under the .ee-domain and off course you still have the chance to register your trademark or domain name under this extension.

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Normally the Estonian registry would have started the liberalisation of the .ee-domain on July 5th. However at the moment the registry is facing a technical problem causing not all registrars to have equivalent access to the registration system of the registry. Until this problem is resolved, the registry switches back to a system of pre-registrations. Once this problem is fixed, applications for .ee-domain names will be processed again.

Thanks to the liberisation of the .ee-domain, everyone who wishes to do so, can now register a domain name under the .ee-extension. This way, everybody gets the chance to protect his/her trademark or to register his/her domain name under this extension. The severe restriction are lifted. So from now on, a .ee name is no longer solely reserved for Estonian companies.

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