Org IDN Launch Date 23 January 2010

On 23 January 2010 Chinese Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Chinese IDNs registered between 23 January 2010 and 22 February 2010 (during the first 30 days of operation) will be locked until 25 March 2010 to allow intellectual property interests to file UDRP actions if warranted. During this period no changes can be made to the domain name.

Trade mark owners are encouraged to register their Chinese character trade marks within the .org TLD at the first available opportunity and to police infringing registrations during the lockdown period.

Contact Lexsynergy should you need any assistance: www.lexsynergy.tel

Kenyan Domain Name Developments

On 28 December 2009 the Kenya Network Information Centre (KENIC) launched three low priced Second Level Domains (SLDs).

The three are .me.ke for use of personal names, .info.ke for information, and .mobi.ke for mobile content.

Lexsynergy is an accredited .ke registrar.

Beware of Chinese scam emails!

During August 2008 we posted information on our website warning our clients and trade mark owners about Chinese scam emails.

Due to the risk that these scams pose we feel it is necessary to re-post and update the news article below.

A few of our clients have received emails from Chinese domain name vendors stating that a third party intends to register their trade mark as a domain name under various Top Level Domain (TLD) extensions. We insert below a sample of the email received, we have replaced the trade mark with XXX.

Dear CEO,

We are a domain name registration service company in asia, which mainly deal with international company's in Asia. We have something important need to confirm with your company.

On the May 22, 2008, we received an application formally. One company named "Tambora International Holdings Ltd" wanted to register following Domain names:
XXX.asia
XXX.cc
XXX.cn
XXX.com.hk

After our initial examination, we found that the keywords and domain names applied for registration are as same as your company's name and trademark. These days we are dealing with it. If you do not know this company, we doubt that they have other aims to buy these domain names. Now we have not finished the registration of Tambora company yet, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Sherry
Auditing Department

This form of email communication is a scam and is intended to frighten trade mark owners into registering domain names with the company that originated the email at an inflated price. The domain names mentioned in these scams are usually registered on a “first come, first served” basis so there is no reason to report such a risk to a trade mark owner.

If the trade mark owner responds the scammer usually registers the domain names, under its own name, as the response indicates that the domain names are of value and have the potential to generate income for the scammer. The trade mark owner is then in a predicament, "Do they buy a domain name back or institute legal action for a domain name they never wanted?"

If you receive such an email it is advisable to ignore it. If the email includes a domain name that you may want to secure rather register it through your own provider or at www.lexsynergy.com.

.CN Domain Names - Change in registration policy

CNNIC (.cn registry) has been compelled by the Chinese Government to implement stricter requirements to register .cn domain names.

Registrants are now required to provide supporting documentation for domain names registered after 14 December 2009. The required documents are:

• an original application form of CCNIC stamped with the business seal of the registrant; and
• a company certificate (copy); and
• an identity document of the person signing on behalf of the registrant (copy).

After applying for a .cn domain name through Lexsynergy we will prepare and send you the original application form, which must be returned with the other documents mentioned above within 5 days of making the application. If the documents are not received within that period or are incorrect the domain name will be deleted. All the documents must be sent via pdf to domain@lexsynergy.com.

Domain names registered prior to 14 December 2009 are not affected by this change. Individuals can also no longer register .cn domain names.

If you have any questions please email domains@lexsynergy.com.

Lexsynergy on facebook

We recently added a Lexsynergy Limited profile on facebook. We encourage our readers to visit our page and become a member.

WIPO Center Launches Paperless UDRP

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) has launched a paperless UDRP option. This will reduce the time and costs associated with the preparation and filing of hard copy complaints.

In addition trade mark owners will be contributing towards saving the environment while protecting their trade marks.

For more information visit http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/rules/eudrp/.

.DO - Dominican Republic - Do Register a .Do

.do is the Top Level Domain (TLD) of the Dominican Republic (an Island in the Caribbean). Nic.do (.do registry) now allows the registration of second level domains.

Registrations opened on 10 December 2009. This TLD will play an important role in the domain name and branding industry because it constitutes a word in several languages. In English there are endless branding opportunities such as please.do, how-do-you.do and hair.do.

From a trade mark perspective it is important to secure your trade marks under this TLD to avoid them being targeted by cybersquatters. Email domains@lexsynergy.com for more information on registering .do domain names. Visit www.lexsynergy.tel for more contact information.

Metropolitan Police Computer e-Crime Unit domain name take down activity

This week Nominet received an instruction from the Metropolitan Police's Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) to take down around 1200 .co.uk domain names. These domain names have been under investigation for criminal activity.

As part of Operation Papworth, the PCeU have targeted web sites run by organised criminal networks that purported to sell designer items - clothes, jewellery and electronic goods. Many of the sites involved supplied counterfeit goods or in some cases simply failed to supply any goods to the consumers who placed orders.

This is a positive note for consumers and brand owners.

.РФ Sunrise Period Begins Today

The Russian Registry registry recently announced the release of IDN domain names under .РФ (the Cyrillic ccTLD for the Russia Federation) from November 25, 2009 to March 25, 2010 (Sunrise Domain Registrations) for owners of Cyrillic Russian trade marks.

If two or more trade mark owners of the same trade mark submit applications for the same domain within the Sunrise registration period, the domain will be registered in the name of the first applicant who has fulfilled the registration terms and conditions.

Trade mark owners applying for .РФ domain names will be required to submit the following:

· Russian trade mark number or International trade mark number (confirming protection in the Russian Federation);

· trade mark certificate; and

· Applicant’s company registration certificate together with the applicant's company seal (sent via e-mail and by fax).

It will take approximately 10 days to verify the application.

Under the .РФ ccTLD, only characters in the Cyrillic alphabet, numbers and hyphens will be allowed. No Latin or other characters will be allowed.

The cost of a .РФ Sunrise application is £300.

Due to the nature of the application process all application requests and questions must be sent to domains@lexsynergy.com.

.eu IDN launch 10 December 2009

Starting 10 December 2009, companies and private persons based in the European Union will be able to register .eu Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs).

IDNs are domain names that contain non-ASCII characters. These characters include, for example, the Swedish å, the German ü, the Romanian ș and characters from the Bulgarian and Greek alphabets as a whole.

IDNs are particularly important for .eu as the European Union has 27 Member States and 23 official languages. Many of these languages have non-ASCII characters in their alphabets.

Contact Lexsynergy to register your .eu IDN.

IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process Launch

ICANN announced the launch of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process.

Non-English speakers across the globe will soon have access to the Internet addresses completely in their own language. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization charged with overseeing the Internet’s naming and numbering systems, is today launching a process for delegating a number of internationalized top-level domains.

IDNs are domain names that include characters other than the currently available set of the English alphabet (the 26 letters "a-z", numbers 0 to 9, and hyphens). ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush noted, “The IDN program will encompass close to one hundred thousand characters, opening up the Internet to billions of potential users around the globe.”

ICANN President Rod Beckstrom described the importance of this change to the global Internet community, “Over half the Internet users around the world don’t use a Latin-based script as their native language. IDNs are about making the Internet more global and accessible for everyone.”

Starting November 16, 2009 at 00:00UTC ICANN will accept requests from representatives of countries and territories around the world for new Internet extensions that represent their country name and are made up of non-Roman characters.

Once the requests are evaluated and approved, Internet extensions are expected to come online in many countries during 2010.

“This is the biggest technical change to the Internet’s addressing system – the Domain Name System – in many years,” said Tina Dam, ICANN’s Senior Director of Internationalized Domain Names. “Right now, it’s not possible to get a domain name entirely in for example Chinese characters or Arabic characters. This is about to change.”

It’s important to note that ICANN will not accept direct registration applications for second-level domain names – the part before the Internet extension or suffix – from individuals, companies, or organizations. The ability for people to get a domain name in their language will come later – through a process determined by the entity that successfully applies for an IDN country-code top-level.

The IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process is available online now, including an online request form, a manual describing how to apply, a list of Frequently Asked Questions, ICANN’s final implementation plan, and brief history of the Fast Track process.

All material and access to the system is available at: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/

Source: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-16nov09-en.htm.

Trade Mark Attorneys - Earn from the Downturn

LEXSYNERGY IS A SPECIALIST DOMAIN NAME MANAGEMENT AND ONLINE BRAND PROTECTION COMPANY OFFERING COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE DOMAIN NAME TRAINING TO TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS AND AGENTS.

The current economic climate has led to a reduction of instructions for IP law firrms, ultimately reducing revenue.

The best solution is to offer new, valuable and enhanced services to trade mark clients. Lexsynergy has packaged innovative domain name services to compliment and enhance trade mark protection for the benefit of trade mark owners, while allowing IP law firrms to generate additional revenue from a new service channel.

Register today to learn more about maximising the IP protection opportunities that domain names provide to trade mark owners.

To learn more email info@lexsynergy.com with the subject line “Credit Crunch Domains” including your contact information.

www.lexsynergy.com www.lexsynergy.tel www.regainyourdomain.com

Togo - .Tg Domains

To go to TOGO you need a .tg.

Togo is a small African country nestled between Ghana and Benin.
TG is the Top Level Domain assigned to Togo and can be registered directly at a second level. There are no restrictions for registering .tg domain names.

For more information on securing domain names in Africa contact our Domain Name Department (domains@lexsynergy.com). www.lexsynergy.tel.

1,2, 3 DENIC

On 15 October 2009 it was announced that DENIC (the .de registry) will ease its domain guidelines. This means that, from 23 October 2009, it will be possible to register one, two and three digit domain names. See the English press release here.

Domain names such as .it.de, tv.de, d.de and am.de will be in high demand. Since these domain names will have a high resell value and in most cases not infringe upon trade marks, .de registrars are charging high prices for these registrations.

It is anticipated that domainers will be breaking the bank to secure lucrative domain names. The registration process will work on a "first come, first served" basis.

If you have a one, two or three letter trade mark (device or word mark) in Germany or the EU it may be worthwhile considering registering a matching domain name on 23 October 2009. Email domains@lexsynergy.com for more information.

Ph Accreditation - Philippines

Lexsynergy is pleased to announce its dot.ph accreditation. Visit www.lexsynergy.com to register your com.ph, .ph, net.ph and org.ph domain names.

.ph is the unrestricted country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) used for the Philippines.

Shedding some light on .tel UDRP decisions

.tel, the "new" gTLD, was launched in December 2008. The launch occured in three periods (Sunrise, Landrush and General Availability).

The Sunrise Period afforded trade mark holders the opportunity to secure its trade marks as a .tel domain name before it was released to the general public. It was inevitable that those who failed to take advantage of the Sunrise Period would be exposed to potential infringements.

This was the case for osram.tel, heineken.tel and novozymes.tel. These domain names were subsequently recovered in the first three .tel UDRP decisions to be decided.

While all three decisions were decided in favour of the trade mark holders, the expense and risk of submitting a UDRP complaint could have been avoided by simply securing the domain name at the first available opportunity.

We advise trade mark holders to develop a formal domain name strategy that makes provision for the securing of domain names during Sunrise Periods or prior to the launch of a new brand / trade mark.

If you have been affected by such infringements or need to recovery a domain name contact our specialised domain name recovery unit (RegainYourDomain) at recovery@regainyourdomain.com. See regainyourdomain.com and regainyourdomain.tel for more information.

New Domain Name Recovery Service

Lexsynergy Limited is pleased to announce the imminent launch of its domain name recovery service RegainYourDomain.

The service will operate from regainyourdomain.com.

RegainYourDomain is an online domain name recovery service, allowing users to recover multiple domain names and closely follow the recovery process.

If you missed the opportunity to secure your trade mark, brand or corporate name as a domain name you may still be able to recover it through strategic negotiation or via the various dispute resolution procedures.

Recovering a domain name or negotiating its purchase requires experience and strategic planning. We work with our clients to explore the most cost effective and efficient method of acquiring wanted domain names.

We have several years of experience in domain name recovery supported by a well-rounded team comprising of trade mark professionals and negotiation specialists who are experts in domain name negotiation and dispute resolution.

News24.com recently published an article that dealt with the proposed expansion of .za TLDs. So for example extensions such as durban.za and gauteng.za could be released in the near future.

What is troubling about the article is that ZADNA feels the need to launch new TLDs in a market (South Africa) that is relatively inactive on the Internet.

South Africa has a population of about 49 million with 2.4 million Internet users. This means 4.89% of the population has Internet access. 500 000 co.za domain names are registered, which amounts to 0.21 domain names per Internet user and 0.01 domain names per person.

Rather than focusing on new TLDs, which seem uncessary in the current market, we would suggest that ZADNA focus on marketing the co.za extension globally and encourage South Africans to register domain names while at the same time promoting IT and Internet literacy amongst poor communities.

ICANN Accrediation Confirmed

Lexsynergy Limited's ICANN Accreditation was confirmed today. This will result in additional and enhanced domaim name services for our clients. www.lexsynergy.com and www.lexsynergy.tel.

Lexs

Lexsynergy is tweeting, follow us at http://twitter.com/lexsynergyltd.

.ai TLD open to all

Starting today the .ai TLD (Anguilla) can be registered by any person or business without restriction. Previously only residents of Anguilla could register .ai domain names.

The minimum period of registration is two years. The costs is £67 per year plus a once-off fee of £110 .

Contact us at domains@lexsynergy.com or for more contact information visit www.lexsynergy.tel.

Over 500 000 co.za domain names

The number of co.za (South Africa) domain names has passed the 500 000 registration mark. South Africa has a population of approximately 49 million, which should translate into an opportunity for growth in the co.za extension.

Important Notice: CM Go Live Phase

The .CM registry (Netcom.cm Sarl) posted the following notice on its website:

"Dear Registrars,

Currently the Cameroon internet connection is facing technicaldifficulties.

After applying a security update to the .CM registry server, the root name servers failed to get access to the zone file. The technical team of CAMTEL is currently working on the issue to solve the problem.

Domains which were applied for during the sunrise period will be connected once the Trademark Certificates have been validated. Due to the overwhelming success of the introduction of the .cm top-level domain, we would like to ask for some patience. The review process will be finished soon and we are sure that we can connect the domains as soon as our technical problems are fixed.

The open registration for .CM domains will be suspended till the issue has been solved.

We apologise for the inconvience and we will keep you updated."

Lexsynergy will be monitoring developments and will process all the "Go Live" registrations once the .cm technical issues have been resolved.

.cm (Cameroon) Launch 1 August 2009

The ccTLD .cm will be open for registration to the general public from 1 August 2009. Registrations will operate on a ‘first come, first served’ basis at a cost of £75 per year.

As mentioned in our previous release .cm may become a target for cybersquatters and typosquatters due to “cm” being a common misspelling of “com”.

It is also a misspelling of “cn” (China), the largest ccTLD in the world, since the letter ‘m’ and ‘n’ are next to one another on the keyboard.

We would advise trade mark holders to register defensive domain names in order to avoid potential infringements.

In order to place your registrations on our queuing system, or if you have any queries please email domains@lexsynergy.com.

LEX INFORMATICA

Elad Kinstler, the manager of our South African office, will be presenting a paper that compares the importance of trade marks to domain names at the Lex Informatica Conference "Practical application of Cyberlaw in different environments". www.lex-informatica.org/

Without Prejudice

An article by Daniel Greenberg and Elad Kinstler of Lexsynergy was published in the July edition of ‘without prejudice – The Law Magazine’ (www.withoutprejudice.co.za). The article is entitled ‘The impact of ICANN’s new gTLD programme on trademark owners’ and highlights the potential issues facing trademark owners as a result of ICANN’s intention to open up the Internet domain name sector by allowing suitable applicants to register new gTLDs. The issues discussed have faced widespread debate within the Intellectual Property community and may potentially add to the difficulties facing trade mark owners who wish to protect their marks online.

The article can be viewed by purchasing the July edition of without prejudice or by subscribing online at http://www.withoutprejudice.co.za.

For any queries or to discuss the way forward in light of this new programme, feel free to e-mail info@lexsynergy.com or contact us on +44 20 8133 1319.

.CM Sunrise Period has Started!

The Sunrise Period for trade mark owners started on 15 June 2009 (9:00 UTC) and will continue until 14 July 2009 (23:59:59 UTC).



Requirements

• Registered national trade mark (any country) at the time of application. A scanned copy of the trademark certificate or an extract from the trade marks register is required and must accompany the application.

Required information:

• Trade mark number, date of application, date of registration, wording of the trade mark and country where the mark is registered. If certificates, extracts and documents are not submitted in English, the registry may request a translation. If the applicant is a licensee a copy of the licensing agreement with the trade mark holder must be provided. Applications will be validated by the registry (Netcom) and its Validation Agent. These parties may request additional documentation, if required.
  

Special Notes

• Domain name must directly correspond to trade mark.
• Special characters (%&@!) may be eliminated, or transcribed or replaced with a hyphen.
• Spaces may be removed or replaced with a hyphen.
• Latin letters with additional non-latin elements (such as á) may be reproduced without such elements (a) or replaced by standard spelling of such letters.
• If there is more than one valid application the domain name will be awarded to the oldest registered trade mark.
• Figurative Marks are allowed if the trade mark exclusively contains a word and the word element of the trade mark is predominant and all alphanumeric characters included in the word are contained in the domain name and the general impression is apparent and corresponds with the word contained in the trade mark.

Costs

£285 (2year registration) + £80 trade mark validation fee.

Total Fee£365.

To submit your application login to your Lexsynergy account or register an account here and follow the instructions in the FAQ section under the topic Cameroon - CM Sunrise Period.

Lexsynergy is an accredited .cm registrar.

"Saving Face" - Protect Your IP on Facebook

Facebook has launched personalised URLs for its users. This mean instead of using a profile ID the user can make use of a customized URL (www.facebook.com/trademark).

Facebook gave IP owners about four days to block the registration of their trade marks as part of a Facebook URL. The notice period was short but not the end of the road for IP owners, who still have the opportunity to object to the use of their trade mark via the following link http://www.facebook.com/copyright.php?noncopyright_notice=1.

Please contact us should you need any guidance or assistance.

co.na - Namibia Domain Name Promotion

The Namibian Registry (Omadhina) has substantially reduced the registration costs for the extension co.na. Lexsynergy, as a .na accredited registrar, is now offering co.na registrations for £65.00 per year to foreign registrants.

The registration costs of a .na and com.na domain name can be prohibitively high for some registrants so co.na appears to be the most cost effective option of gaining an online presence in Namibia.

CM (Cameroon) Top Level Sunrise Information

The long awaited re-launch of the .cm TLD will start on 15 June 2009.

.cm is the Top Level Domain for Cameroon and unfortunately a target for cybersquatters and typosquatters due to “cm” being a common typographical error for the most popular TLD ”com”.

A good example is www.cnn.cm, which directs to an affiliate page (managed by Agoga.com). This infringement does not mean that the domain name is registered but rather that it is available. At the moment, most available cm domain names automatically direct to this affiliate scheme. We would therefore advise closing this infringement avenue by registering defensive domain names that correspond to key trade marks.

.cm will be launched in 3 phases.
Phase 1 - 15 June 2009 - 14 July 2009 - reserved for trade mark holders.
Phase 2 - 15 July 2009 - 31 July 2009 - landrush - domain names will be made available at a premium price.
Phase 3 - 1 August 2009 - released to the general public.

In order to place your application on our queuing system email domains@lexsynergy.com with your request and we will send you an application form.

Applications can be made via the Lexsynergy control panel from 15 June 2009.
www.lexsynergy.com

Trade Mark Scam

We recently received the above letter from IOPTS (International Organization for Patent & TradeMark Service, LLC). The letter is intended to create the impression that a filing fee or some trade mark related fee is outstanding.

We did some digging around and found a WIPO web page that warns of similar scams. Other sites mentioning IP scams include:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scams_in_intellectual_property
http://www.epo.org/patents/law/legal-texts/InformationEPO/archiveinfo/29062006.html
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/t-unsolicited.htm

We would like to know what the IP community (WIPO and other IP offices around the world) is doing to prevent such scams or what action is taken once a fraud is identified?

Answers to our questions would be welcome. Email us at info@lexsynergy.com or post your comments on our blog.

South African Patent Journal

Once a South African trade mark has passed the registrar's examination it is published in the Patent Journal for 3 months, during this period any interested party may oppose the trade mark on various grounds mentioned in the Trade Marks Act 1993.

Until recently the only way you could get your hands on the Patent Journal was to obtain a copy from the Government Printers. It is now possible to view scanned copies of the Patent Journal online at www.greengazette.co.za.

This will be an extremely useful resource for trade mark owners and IP lawyers. But with every positive there is a negative. In this situation the negative would be that cybersquatters / typosquatters will be able to view the Patent Journal and register similar or identical co.za domain names possibly creating more domain name disputes within the .za namespace.

Our advice: register your trade mark as a co.za domain name NOW!

New Nominet DRS Search Service

Nominet has launched a search function for DRS expert decisions. The new search function allows users to search decisions for keywords or phrases as well as by date, decision outcome, expert and many other criteria. Further information is available at http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest?contentId=6429.

This is a nifty tool that IP attorneys will appreciate.

Not Protected, Not for Profit

With the increase of domain name disputes worldwide it is encouraging to know that domain name authorities are beginning to implement dispute resolution procedures that are relatively inexpensive and time efficient with the aim of protecting trade mark owners.

However every now and then a blatant oversight can occur leaving a gapping hole for cybersquatters to abuse. This appears to be the case of org.za which is intended for South African non-commercial organisations, including but not limited to charities, NGOs, Section 21 companies, trade and industry associations, trade unions, political parties and religious organisations. The terms and conditions, however, do not prevent commercial entities or individuals from registering org.za, as is the case of Lexsynergy.org.za.

Allowing commercial entities to register org.za domains is not the disturbing issue but rather the fact that the South African ADR only covers co.za domains and not org.za domains. This creates the absurd situation that a commercial entity is afforded a cheap method to retrieve its domain name while the non-profits who want to reclaim their domain have to follow the route of instituting action in a local South African court which can be lengthy and expensive.

We say let the not-for-profit, profit from the ADR.

Bursary Lunch

Lexsynergy awarded a school bursary to two young ladies from Wendywood High School (www.wendywoodhigh.co.za). The bursaries will continue until they reach their final year of school (Grade 12).

During March 2009 we took these young ladies and their families out for lunch to wish them success with their school studies.

.Tel Landrush registration period opens on 3 February 2009

Anyone will be able to register a .tel domain name, at a premium price, from 3 February 2009 (15:00 GMT) until 23 March 2009. The initial registration period is 3 years and each domain name will be allocated on a first come, first served basis with no validation.

After the Landrush period .tel domain names will be available at a fraction of the cost but obviously the most valuable domains names would be registered by then.

As no web hosting or web development is required, .tel domains are a revolution in the use of domain names and internet publishing.

Lexsynergy has started accepting pre-registrations. To submit your application log in to your Lexsynergy control panel or email domains@lexsynergy.com.

KENIC “dashes” cybersquatting activities in Kenya

KENIC, Kenya’s domain name registry, has implemented a precautionary measure that prohibits the registration of a domain name with a dash or hyphen if a version of the domain name has already been registered without a hyphen. The same applies if a domain name is first registered with a hyphen, the unhyphenated version will be blocked.

Example:

The registration of domainnames.co.ke will block the registration of domain-names.co.ke, likewise the registration of domain-names.co.ke will block the registration of domainnames.co.ke.

The intention behind this system is to curb cybersquatting in addition to saving legitimate registrants the costs of registering different versions of their domain name.

To view the Kenyan whois database visit www.domainnames.co.ke.

Credit Crunch - Impact on domain name management

The state of the world economy is not in the best shape and businesses are looking to cut costs. Trade mark owners are no different as they try to streamline expenditure without compromising brand protection.

Cost reduction, in the Intellectual Property sector, is a delicate exercise that requires an in-depth cost analysis of each aspect of the IP portfolio, in particular domain names. Domain names have become a crucial component of an IP portfolio that increases in number at a quicker rate than any other part of the portfolio due to factors such as:

• the release of new Top Level Domains (TLDs);
• marketing strategies and campaigns;
• rebranding;
• business acquisitions and mergers;
• domains acquired through litigation and settlements; and
• defensive registrations.

There are numerous ways to rein in domain name expenditure without compromising a company’s domain name strategy or online brand protection policies.

1. Shop around and select a niche domain name management company that can provide cost-effective domain name management services without compromising efficiency, functionality or support. Most domain name management companies will be willing to negotiate on registration and renewal costs, offering discounts based on volume. It is also important to look at hidden costs such as nameserver changes, web and email forwarding, transfer charges and whois updates. Moving a domain name portfolio to a new domain name management company can be a daunting undertaking but the task may save a business thousands every year.

2. Identify the most important or core domain names and renew them for the longest possible period. In most cases a discount can be negotiated for lengthy renewals saving money in the long run.

3. Identify redundant domain names for deletion. This process includes setting up a domain name deletion procedure that minimizes the risk of deleted domains being re-registered by competitors or cybersquatters.

4. Nominate a person or team to approve domain registrations and renewals in order to prevent unnecessary expenditure.

5. Prepare a budget for the introduction of new TLDs to avoid unforeseen expenditure.

For a free cost saving analysis on your domain name portfolio contact our domain name management team at domains@lexsynergy.com.