DotLONDON Domains Available Today

What will be one of the biggest new gTLDs to launch is launching today (29 April) as .london domains become available for registration.

It has been claimed there are 50,000 pre-registrations, although how many of these are duplicate requests for a .london domain, and how many will actually be registered, is not known. But it is almost certain that as awareness grows so will applications and come the General Availability there will be more than this registered.

Today though marks the beginning of a three-month period during which Londoners and London businesses will be given priority in applying for a domain name. Trademark holders also receive priority. Preferences during this first phase, which runs until 31 July, is given to applicants as follows:

• those with trademarks verified with ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse database
• Londoners (those with a physical address in the City of London or its 32 boroughs) with rights to a name (such as proof of business or trading name)
• Londoners (those with a physical address in the City of London or its 32 boroughs)
• non-Londoners.

The second phase, General Availability where equal access is given to all interested customers for all other available domain names, commences on 9 September.

During August 2014, Dot London will allocate names according to priority ranking and where there is more than one applicant in the same priority ranking for the same domain name, an auction will decide who will get the name.

“Londoners have a real sense of pride in their city and when we’ve talked to them about Dot London, they’re really excited about the prospect of putting London right at the heart of their businesses and online branding,” said Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Enterprise and Chairman of London & Partners, the Mayor’s official promotional organisation for London. “The fact that there have already been more than fifty thousand expressions of interest in Dot London gives us real confidence that our city’s new domain will be a huge success.”

“The introduction of new domains presents an enormous opportunity for businesses to overhaul their branding and become more relevant to their customers,” said Antony Van Couvering, Chief Executive of Minds + Machines, the commercial partner of Dot London. “A Dot London web address captures the essence of London as a powerhouse of business and innovation. It’s encouraging to see how many Londoners understand how much they can gain by associating themselves more closely with one of the world’s leading brands.”