Domains & DNS: December 2005 Archives

The IEDR made a couple of announcements over the last couple of weeks that are of interest to companies and individuals operating in the Irish internet industry.

There must be something in the air! Nominet recently rebranded and now IEDR are to follow suit.

According to the latest report from WhoisIreland.com the shift away from the traditional ISPs to HSPs (hosting service providers) continued throughout 2005.

I recently posted about the importance of maintaining accurate information in domain whois. Earlier today (yesterday if you want to be really pedantic) the GAO (US Government Accountability Office) released its report on INTERNET MANAGEMENT- Prevalence of False Contact Information for Registered Domain Names. (pdf)

Yesterday, at 11am CET the .eu sunrise one started. According to a press release from Eurid the following were the most requested domains in the first day:

1. sex.eu
2. hotel.eu
3. travel.eu
4. jobs.eu
5. hotels.eu
6. casino

The fact that a domain has been requested does not mean that it will actually be granted. The process for handling the initial registrations is anything but simple and automatic (like .com) so it will probably be some time before we know who has been granted what... If you hold a trademark now is the time to secure your .eu domain!

The debacle surrounding data retention in Europe (and Ireland) has been dragging on for the last couple of years.

One of the downsides of automated domain registration systems is that there are no checks on trademark infringement.

The EU domain will enter sunrise 1 later this week, so if you hold a trademark you really should make sure that your request is submitted. If you don't have a trademark you can still apply during the sunrise 2 period if you hold a "prior right". Of course .eu isn't the only "show" in town. A lot of people seem to forget about other regional TLDs. If you are selling into other EU country markets then it makes sense to protect your brand as much as possible.