Friday, 28 January 2011

SZ – Swaziland (The landlocked domain)

Swaziland is a small Africa country entirely landlocked by the Republic of South Africa (a country within a country). Swaziland has, over the years, been devastated by HIV/AIDS, with one of the highest infection rates in world.

This country, like so many other African countries, desperately needs direct investment and job creation initiatives. A potential source of income is the Internet supported by the Swaziland gateway being the ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) co.sz.

Co.sz is a restricted ccTLD, which means a domain name can only be registered by a local Swazi company or citizen. In addition an application form needs to be submitted in original form, via a local Swaziland ISP, to the SZ Registry (SISPA – Swaziland ISP Association), which approves each application at a board meeting held once a month.

These restrictive registration requirements and procedures are counter productive and discourage local and foreign companies from registering domain names in Swaziland. Instead most tend to opt for gTLDs (such as .com or .net). Opening up the SZ ccTLD to the rest of the world could potentially result in the increase of domain name registrations and consequently much needed revenue for the country.

It is believed that SISPA is concerned that opening up the SZ ccTLD to all will increase infringements and online scams. This risk is real but mechanisms can be introduced to handles such issues. This can be done through the introduction of a dispute resolution procedure and take-down notices, which can be co-ordinated through SISPA.

Making a domain name registration more complicated than filing a trade mark is a substantial barrier to the growth of the Internet in Swaziland. More domains = more money = more jobs.

Sudan – A possible new TLD for Africa

The referendum in Southern Sudan has the potential to create a new country on the African continent. The name of this potential new country is yet unknown but in its creation a space will be made available for a new ccTLD extension.

Currently Sudan uses the ccTLD .sd , which will in all probability remain with the northern state.

It is anticipated that the allocation of a new ccTLD will only be considered once the political system for the new country has been established.

South African Spammers Hall of Shame

Do spammers have no shame? Well now, South African spammers do!

The Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) the organisation that represents the vast majority of ISPs in South Africa has published a list of spammers on its website (http://www.ispa.org.za/spam/hall-of-shame).

The intention behind the list is “to assist South African consumers to effectively manager local unsolicited bulk email“.

According to its website ISPA believes that consumers should only receive bulk mail that they have requested and/or consented to receive and/or which they would expect to receive as a result of an existing relationship.

What does ISPA consider to be spam?

All unsolicited bulk e-mail is spam with the following exceptions:

  • Mail sent by one party to another where there is already a prior relationship between the two parties and subject matter of the message(s) concerns that relationship, is not spam.
  • Mail sent by one party to another with the explicit consent of the receiving party, is not spam.

Ironically www.stressballs.co.za has found itself on the Hall of Shame.

Hopefully, ISPAs efforts assist in reducing the amount of spam that fills our inboxes. In the meantime, SHAME ON YOU SPAMMERS.

CO.ZA a potential target for squatters

During December 2010 a news article was published on Sedo.com citing South Africa’s co.za extension as a “Rising Star”. The article seems to promote co.za as a valuable extension for domain name investors mentioning that there were over $1,000,000 worth of documented co.za aftermarket sales in 2010. The complete article can be read here.

The flip side of the coin is the increase in cybersquatting and typosquatting activities within co.za. Three co.za complaints (maxdupreez.co.za, pic.co.za and digicert.co.za) have already been filed with the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL) this year. Twelve complaints were filed during 2007, the year in which the ZA Alternative Dispute Resolution (zaADR) was launched. In 2008 and 2009 an additional 26 complaints were filed . 2010 saw the highest number of complaints filed with the SAIIPL (25).

The new found co.za fame is keeping trade mark owners busy not to mention their lawyers. Although squatting activities cannot be eliminated the exposure to such risk can be reduced through a co-ordinated strategy of registering trade mark related domain names for defensive purposes. Groupon have also been bitten by the co.za “Rising Star” losing out on groupon.co.za. Could this be the next zaADR complaint?

Register you co.za domain name at Lexsynergy.com.

Monday, 10 January 2011

.SA (Saudi Arabia) Domain Name Sunrise Period Launch

SaudiNIC (.SA Registry) recently announced the beginning of the Sunrise Period for the Second Level Domain (SLD) (.SA). It is now possible to register for example domain.sa based on the domain registration domain.com.sa.

The Sunrise Period begins on 10 of January 2011 until 7 March 2011. During this period SaudiNIC will accept applications that match Third Level Domain registrations registered before 6 December 2010.

Email domains@lexsynergy.com for assistance in submitting your application.

.LK (Sri Lanka) IDN Registrations

The LK Domain Registry is now accepting registration requests for the .ලංකා and .இலங்கை IDN domain names.

Email domains@lexsynergy.com should you require assistance.

NIRA (.NG) AUCTION

The Second Level Domain (SLD) .NG Buy Now Promotion which began on 22 December 2010 ends on 29 January 2011. This promotion allows potential buyers to bypass the auction process and pay a pre-determined value for a .NG SLD.

The cost is N7,500,000 (approximately £30 000 or $46 000). If the domain name is identical to the buyers corporate name or trade mark the cost will be reduced to N3,000,000 (approximately £12 000 $19 000).

This is not cheap but you could own domain name such as:

buyi.ng
accounti.ng
amazi.ng
biki.ng
banki.ng

If you cannot afford the Buy Now Promotion the Auction process may be the next best option to secure your .NG SLD.

The auction is divided into three parts:

Platinum Domain Auction
Gold Domain Auction
Diamond Domain Auction

The Auction Policy document provided by NIRA is confusing so we suggest you read it carefully and send your questions to Lexsynergy (domains@lexsynergy.com) so we we can obtain an answer from NIRA. The Auction Policy document can be read here.

50,000 Free .NG Domains for Nigeria

This is not a scam but a promotion by NIRA (Nigerian Internet Registration Association) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to coincide with the Golden Jubilee of independence.

During the period 31 December 2010 to 21 March 2011 domain names can be registered at no cost for a period of one year. The promotion covers the following extensions:
  • com.ng
  • org.ng
  • name.ng
  • mobi.ng
It is worthwhile to note that domain names registered during this promotion must be used within six months or the registration shall be withdrawn or deleted. It is unclear what is meant by “use”. NIRA also mentions that registrants may park their free domains to their existing sites however they are not allowed to park the domains on sites other than their own.

Make sure that you register your Nigerian domain names through an accredited registrar.
Email domains@lexsynergy.com for assistance.

Postponement of .SO Landrush launch

The .SO (Somalia) Registry has postponed the launch of the Landrush phase, by a week, to 17 January 2011.

As an accredited .SO registrar we are able to assist with your Sunrise Application. Email domains@lexsynergy.com for more information.

Thursday, 6 January 2011

.UK Short Name Release ends on 17 January 2011

The Registered Rights sunrise phase for previously reserved short domain names, including some valuable one character and two letter combinations, will soon be coming to a close. The deadline for domain name applications is midday (GMT) on 17 January 2011.

Eligible registered trade mark holders are advised to act quickly in order to participate.

See http://blog.lexsynergy.com/2010/11/uk-short-name-release.html for more information.

Tuesday, 4 January 2011

DomainDisputes.co

14 декабря 2010 года – Лондон, Великобритания. DomainDisputes.co
– бесплатный сервис поиска Постановлений о нарушении исключительного права на товарный знак в области доменных имен на днях был запущен английской кампанией Lexsynergy Limited, которая на протяжении многих лет успешно работает в области защиты исключительных прав на торговые марки. Данный сервис поможет юристам, адвокатам и собственникам торговых марок оперативно отслеживать зарегистрированные нарушения правовых норм в области доменных имен по всему миру.

География возможных нарушений исключительных прав на товарные знаки, как и сами доменные имена, не имеет четких границ и ярким примером этому служит возросшая популярность таких явлений, как cybersquatting и typosquatting. В сложившейся ситуации, чтобы установить факт наличия у потенциального ответчика истории в базе данных и выявить наличие уже существующего прецедента, собственникам товарных знаков или их юристам приходится осуществлять поиск в различных независимых организациях по охране интеллектуальной собственности. До настоящего времени, основной проблемой можно было назвать отсутствие сервиса, где потенциальный потерпевший мог бы осуществить поиск сразу по множеству баз данных с Постановлениями.

DomainDisputes.co – первый такого рода сервис, который ускоряет и упрощает нахождение зарегистрированных нарушений исключительного права на товарный знак в области доменных имен путем их поиска по различным критериям в крупнейших мировых организациях по защите интеллектуальной собственности, т.к.: Всемирная организация интеллектуальной собственности (США), Национальный Арбитражный Форум (США), Номинет (Великобритания), Европейское агентство по защите авторских прав (Арбитражный суд Чехии), Институт Интеллектуальной собственности в Южной Африке(ЮАР), Комиссия по Доменный Именам в Новой Зеландии(Новая Зеландия), Арбитражный центр в Гон-Гонге (Китай), Азиатский центр по защите прав на товарные знаки(Китай) и Арбитражный центр Куала-Лумпур в Малайзии. Результаты поиска, вместе с ссылками на Постановления, могут быть экспортированы в формате MS Excel.

О компании Lexsynergy Limited:

Являясь аккредитованным регистратором ICANN, основная деятельность компании Lexsynergy Limited связана с регистрацией и дальнейшим менеджментом доменных имен (Lexsynergy.com), а также онлайн сервис по защите брэндов и торговых знаков (RegainYourDomain.com), который позволяет за адекватную стоимость эффективно представлять и, с помощью согласованной с заказчиком стратегией, отстаивать интересы собственников торговых знаков в организациях по защите интеллектуальной собственности по всему миру. Компания имеет несколько основных офисов, в том числе в Великобритании, Австралии, Австрии и Южной Африке, а также представительства в Кении, Танзании и
Замбии.

* Киберскво́ттинг (cybersquatting) — приобретение доменных имен, созвучных названиям известных компаний, с целью их дальнейшей перепродажи или размещения рекламы.

* Тайпсквоттинг (typosquatting) — регистрация доменных имён, близких по написанию с адресами популярных сайтов в расчёте на то, что часть пользователей сделают ошибку при вводе.