ICANN Tells IP Community They Won't Police Piracy Sites

The intellectual property community has been pressuring ICANN to do more to police content online and force registrars to prevent the use of domain names in distributing illegal content online such as piracy websites.

However, in a letter to Greg Shatan, President of the Intellectual Property Constituency, ICANN’s Chair Steve Crocker says ICANN does not police content but will enforce contractual provisions requiring registrars to prohibit registrants “from distributing malware, abusively operating botnets, phishing, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement, fraudulent or deceptive practices, counterfeiting or otherwise engaging in activity contrary to applicable law, and providing (consistent with applicable law and any related procedures) consequences for such activities including suspension of the domain name.”

The letter goes on to say that ICANN will bring enforcement actions against registrars that fail to include the required prohibitions.

.UK and .LONDON Promotion

Starting 1 August 2016, Lexsynergy clients who register a .uk domain can receive the matching .london domain at the same cost as the .uk. For example, a client who registers companyabc.uk can register companyabc.london at a discounted price of  £8.80 / $14.96 / €13.20 / R220 per year. This is a 65% savings for the .london domain.

To secure your .uk and matching .london domains, email us at support@lexsynergy.com

IDNs Released For .SITE and .WEBSITE

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) are now available to register within .SITE and .WEBSITE. The following languages will be supported with this launch: Latin, Korean, Thai, Japanese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Lao and Arabic.

Lexsynergy can assist you with IDN registrations. Email us at support@lexsynergy.com

.IE Updates - Reduced Registration Costs and IDNs

Reduced Registration, Renewal and Transfer Costs
Lexsynergy has reduced the cost for all standard .ie domains by 65%. Effective immediately, .ie registrations, renewals and transfers are £35 / $59.50 / €52.50 / R875 per year.

Internationalized Domain Names
IEDR (the .ie registry) recently announced that Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) with the fada characters will become available within .ie starting 23 August 2016. The launch process will begin with a Sunrise phase for trademark owners which will run for 30 days until 21 September 2016.

A Landrush phase will run from 3 October 2016 until 2 November 2016. This phase is reserved for registrants who currently hold domains in the Irish language e.g. fogra.ie, but which are missing the correct inclusion of the fada characters on any vowels. During the Landrush phase, these registrants will be able to apply for the correct IDN equivalent e.g. fógra.ie.

All IDNs that have not been registered during the Sunrise or Landrush phase will be available to register on a first come, first served basis beginning 16 November 2016.

Gaelic IDNs are not included in this launch.

Secondary Market
IEDR has proposed a policy which would allow a registrant to sell their domain via their original registrar, providing the buyer meets the .ie ownership criteria—namely, having a provable connection to Ireland.

The consultation is open until 16 August and following this IEDR will outline a final model. More information is available from their website at iedr.ie. The registry also recently announced there were 35,225 new .ie registrations in 2015, an increase of 13.4 percent when compared to 2014, in their 2015 annual report.

Email us at support@lexsynergy.com if you have any questions or are interested in registering domains within this important extension.

Verisign Outs Itself As Backer Of $135 Million For .WEB

The .web new gTLD sold for a massive $135 million in late July in an auction to a mysterious company called Nu Dot Co. There were eight companies bidding for the suffix and rival applicants had sought to defer the auction over questions of who was backing Nu Dot Co. On Monday Verisign outed itself as the provider of funds for Nu Dot Co’s purchase.

To recoup their investment Verisign intends for .web to be one of the biggest of the new gTLDs when it comes to registration numbers and no doubt to complement .com and .net, for which it already provides registry services for. The price was also by far the largest paid for a new gTLD at auction, beating the previous record of $41,501,000 that GMO Registry paid for. .shop.

Also on the same day up for auction was .webs which sold for a single dollar and the results mean ICANN has proceeds of over $240 million, minus over $7 million in expenses.

Lexsynergy will release details about the launch of .web once they are available. 

Lexsynergy Webinar: Brexit and Its Effect On Domain Name and Online Brand Protection Strategies

The recent referendum in the UK has brought uncertainty and questions about its effect on local and global economies, trade, business, travel, etc. Lexsynergy's next webinar will focus on how Brexit may affect our client's domain management and online brand protection strategies. Click on one of the links below to register for the webinar. The webinar will be held twice for your convenience.

Wednesday 31 August 2016 at 10:00am EDT (3pm UTC) REGISTER HERE
Wednesday 31 August 2016 at 1:00pm EDT (6pm UTC) REGISTER HERE

If you are unable to attend the webinar and have any concerns about how Brexit may affect your domain strategy email us at support@lexsynergy.com. We will set up a time to complete a full review of your portfolio to ensure there are no gaps and that your brand is protected.