Sunrise Period for Short .AT Domains Commenced 29 August

 

The Austrian registry, nic.at, launched the Sunrise period for one and two character .at domain names on 29 August 2016. The Sunrise period is for trademark holders only and applications can be made until 23 September 2016.

Domain names with more than one eligible applicant will be allocated via a public auction, through Sedo.com, commencing on 7 November 2016. All domains still available after the Sunrise phase and public auction will be released to the public on a first-come, first-served basis on 6 December 2016.

“It is a good time to launch the short domains,” Richard Wein, nic.at General Manager, told Lexsynergy. “Many European registries are currently opening up their namespace for short domains, and many of the new top-level domains have supported single character domains from the outset. We have been monitoring developments and decided to follow suit, in consultation with the Austrian internet community and our domain name council. Besides being shorter, we expect trademark owners to profit most from the short domains. They can bring their branding into line across all communication channels and sharpen the profile of their brand. For users, short domains are always easier to remember. And by the way, it is always good for a ccTLD like .at to bring something new into the market.”

Interest to date has been positive with several trademark holders interested such as Volkswagen and telecommunications company 3.

Wein added, “Registrars and Trademark lawyers start asking us detailed questions about the procedures, so we suppose that the industry waits in the wings. Sedo is already eager to communicate the list of domains for auction to their customers, especially outside of Austria like US and China. We’ve also seen an increasing interest from the press and marketing communities.”