Blog Merged with Lexsynergy News

We have merged our blog and news pages so in future please visit http://www.lexsynergy.com/news for global domain name news.

We thank you for reading our blog and hope you will continue to visit us at www.lexsynergy.com.

6th AfTLD African ccTLD Event in Livingstone Zambia

Lexsynergy will be attending the 6th AfTLD African ccTLD Event in Livingstone Zambia (23-27 July 2012).

During the event the impact of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) on African country code Top Level Domains will be discussed.

Additional information about the event can be found at http://www.aftld.org/zm2012/index.html

GL (Greenland) Accreditation

Lexsynergy was recently accredited as a .GL registrar.

 .GL is the TLD assigned to Greenland, the largest Island in the world.

There are no restrictions for this TLD, which also has several second level TLDs such as:

com.gl

co.gl

org.gl

net.gl

edu.gl

Visit us at www.lexsynergy.gl

SX Launch Calender Revised

The .SX Registry recently announced an extension of the Sunrise Period, which will now end on 21 September 2012

The revised launch calendar is inserted below.

Finland blocks domain names matching new gTLDs

We recently attempted to register a .FI domain name matching the trade mark of our client, who had also applied for a new gTLD for that same mark.

The application was rejected by the Finnish Communication Regulatory Authority (FICORA) since the domain name matches a new gTLD application. The result is that the domain name is permanently blocked.

If Bloomberg (who applied for .bloomberg) want to enter the Finnish they will be prevented from registering Bloomberg.fi. 

The notice posted by FICORA can be found at 

https://domain.fi/info/en/index/tietoa/ajankohtaista/2012/P_32.html 

.SX Launch

Sint Maarten is a small Caribbean island with a potentially “big” TLD.

.SX is assigned to this island nation and due to its similarity to the word “Sex” could potentially be marketed as a domain name for the adult entertainment industry. Trade mark holders may also see this domain name as high risk and worthy of a defensive registration to reduce the risk of cybersquatting.

The launch of .SX will occur in several phases

1. Grandfather Period (completed)
2. Sunrise Period to protect trade mark holders (3 May - 14 July 2012)
3. Local Sint Maarten corporate and personal priority periods (5 July - 4 September 2012)
4. Landrush Period (5 September - 4 October 2012)
5. General Availability Period available to all (starting October 5th 2012)

Sunrise Period (3 May - 14 July 2012)

This period began on 3 May 2012 and is reserved for holders of eligible trade marks.
A trade mark holder may submit a Sunrise application for the registration of a .SX domain name that corresponds to their trade mark. The trade mark must have been registered before 1 March 2011.
Multiple applications for the same domain name will be allocated according to an auction process.

.SX Sunrise Pricing

£135 Sunrise Fee (includes a one year registration fee, refundable if the registration fails) and a non-refundable Application Fee (verification of the trade mark information) of £110.

Required Information

The following information is required to submit a .SX application:

• The name of the Owner, Licensee or Assignee to the trade mark
• Country or region in which the trade mark has been registered
• Trade mark name as it appears on the trade mark registration certificate
• Trade mark registration number
• Trade mark registration date
• An indication of the type of mark – word mark or figurative or both

Local Sint Maarten Period (5 July - 4 September 2012)

This period is reserved for legal and natural persons (individuals) registered or resident in Sint Maarten.

Landrush Period (5 September - 4 October 2012)

Domain names can be applied for by any interested party at a premium price.

Multiple applications for the same domain name will be allocated following the outcome of an auction process. No local presence is required for this TLD.

General Availability (starting October 5th 2012)

The period is available to all on a first-come, first-served basis. No local presence is required for this TLD.

Email domains@lexsynergy.com to apply for your .SX domain name or call us on +442081331319 (see www.Lexsynergy.tel for more contact information)

New Rules for .PT Registrations

DNS.PT (the Portuguese registry) recently announced that the rules for registering .pt domain names will be liberalised.

This means that from 1 May 2012 domain name registrants will no longer be required to submit documentary proof of a company name or trademark to register a .pt domain name.

From 1 March 2012 to 30 April 2012 DNS.PT will, through a sunrise period, allow registrants that have established rights in Portugal such as trade marks, company names, to register corresponding domain names.

We recommend registrants of com.pt domain names make the necessary preparation to register the corresponding .pt domain name 1 May 2012.

Contact Lexsynergy for assistance in registering your .pt domain names.

ZA NiC Announcement

ZA NiC is not an official registry but did provide alternative extensions for clients seeking a South African domain name presence.

ZA Nic recently posted the announcement below on its website. If you have question regarding your za.net and and za.org domain names email domains@lexsynergy.com for assistance.

From 31 October 2012 ZA NiC will no longer be accepting new registrations for za.net or za.org domains. 

The primary reason for starting this project in 1998 was to provide an affordable alternative to the domain name prices of the time. Back in the late '90s a .com domain name could easly set you back as much as $100! Today the Internet is a very different place with a .com domain being available for as little as around $8. Even in the primary market we served (South Africa), co.za domains are just R50 per year and org.za domains are free for non-profit organisations. 

Unfortunately just as the Internet has become a better place (cheaper!) it has also become a worse place in the last 14 years. Today the admin overhead of managing domain names registered purely for spam or scamming purposes has made running a free, community serving project such as ZA NiC just not fun anymore. And that is our secondary reason for ceasing new registrations. 

Just because we will no longer be taking new registrations, it does NOT mean any existing domains will cease to function. Domains registered before 31/10/2012, with valid and responding nameservers, will continue to be served by us indefinitely. The modification system for keeping contact and domain name details up to date will also continue to work as it does today.

If you are a service provider that currently lists za.net and za.org domain names as a service for your customers, please ensure that they are removed from new offers on or before 31/10/2012. 

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our supporters for what has been a fun 14 years of providing this service!

New CO.ZA Platform

Lexsynergy is one of the first registrars to be accredited with Uniforum SA (co.za Registry) and to implement their new registry-registrar platform using Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP).

The new platform is intended to improve the efficiency of registering and managing co.za domain names.

What does the new platform mean for co.za registrants?

• The Whois information will change as it will no longer display technical, administrative and billing contact information. See the Whois screenshot of Lexsynergy.co.za below.
• It will take 5 days to update registrant information but the registrant will not be required to accept an update ticket as is the case with the legacy system (old email ticketing system).
• Transfers from one accredited registrar to another will be processed immediately once accepted by the registrant. If the transfer is not accepted it will complete after 5 days of submitting the transfer request. If the registrant declines, the transfer will not complete.
• Nameserver updates will be processed in near real-time so the legacy system of waiting 24hours for nameservers to update will be a thing of the past.

The new EPP registry-registrar platform is a step in the right direction, bringing co.za domain names to the global market.

Email domains@lexsynergy.com if you have any question regrading co.za domain names or any other TLD worldwide.