CNNIC Prepares To Launch .Gongsi ( .COM in Chinese) and .Wangluo (.NET in Chinese)

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) announced that is about to launch .Gongsi (.COM in Chinese) .Wangluo (.NET in Chinese) with IP Mirror.

 

You can read the press release after the jump :

“China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) prepares to launch “.Gongsi” (“.COM” in Chinese) and “.Wangluo” (“.NET” in Chinese), new Chinese-language top-level domains with IP Mirror. As Chinese equivalents of “.COM” and “.NET”, businesses interested in China will find them valuable. Before the domains are open for public registration, trademark holders are encouraged to register during the Sunrise or Pioneer Periods to ensure protection for their trademark rights.

“Gongsi” and “Wangluo” are Chinese phonetic spellings to mean “Company” and “Network”. Refer to the image for the actual Chinese characters of these domains.

As China has the largest Internet user community, Chinese top-level domains are believed to embody increasing market value. Having a domain name consisting of “.Gongsi” or “.Wangluo” makes businesses more credible and accessible in the Chinese market. Sohu, a premier Chinese web portal has fully utilized “.Gongsi” and “.Wangluo” as part of its 2014 World Cup marketing initiative. Mr. Zhang Chao Yang, Sohu’s CEO explains: “Unlike previous ones, this World Cup belongs to mobile devices and video-sharing websites.” Sohu’s Chinese-domain websites — “Sohu Shijiebei.Wangluo” (http://xn--rhqt05c8kc46p54c.xn--io0a7i) (“Sohu World Cup”) and “Baxi Shijiebei.Wangluo” (http://xn--rhqr00bc8gunoxzx.xn--io0a7i) (“Brazil World Cup”), have enabled Chinese Internet-users to quickly locate Sohu’s World Cup coverage on the go; they make a unique statement about the company itself and its willingness to connect with its customers. A domain name with “.Gongsi” or “.Wangluo” gives anyone interested in the Chinese market a competitive edge.

To protect the rights of trademark holders, early registration periods of “.Gongsi“, “.Wangluo” are divided into three consecutive stages. During the Sunrise Period (starting July 1, 2014), registration is only open to Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) registrants. In the subsequent Pioneer Period (from July 31, 2014), non-TMCH trademark holders registered at governmental agencies are eligible. These first-come-first-served priority registrations aid trademark owners in brand protection. In the following Landrush Period (from August 21, 2014), customers are encouraged to bid for their preferred domain names should they be contested. “

SIDN Closing In On Another Milestone : 5,5 Million .NL Domains

Sidn, the company behind .NL domain extension, is approaching 5,5 million domain name registrations under .NL. The company achieved the 5 million milestone in July, 2012.

 

.NL is one of the most popular extensions in the world.Individuals are allowed to register .NL domain names for 11 years ,since 2003.

The .NL ccTLD of the Netherlands is the third largest ccTLD in the world after .DE with 15 million registrations and .CO.UK with 10 million registrations.

21% of households in the Netherlands own at least one .NL domain name and 83% of firms in the contry own a website.

At the time of writing this article there are 5,482,052 registered .NL domain names.

Check out EuroDNS here to register your .NL domain name.

 

 

 

Nike Files Complaint For NikeQA.com Domain Name

Nike has filed a UDRP ,seeking control of NikeQA.com domain name.The complaint was filed with the National Arbitration Forum a few days ago.

 

According to whois records, NikeQA.com was first registered in August 2013.

The National Arbitration Forum will examine if NikeQA.com is confusingly similar to Nike’s trademark,if the current owner has rights over it and if the domain is being used in bad faith .The disputed domain name will be passed over to Nike if it falls under all three of these stipulations.

The case is still pending compliance checks with the National Arbitration Forum 

 

 

ICANN Releases New gTLD Contracting Statistics To 4 July

Below are the key Contracting statistics, as of 04 July 2014:

 

Yahoo Wins YahooFree.com Domain Name in Arbitration

An arbitrator with the National Arbitration Forum has recently awarded the domain name YahooFree.com to Yahoo.The company submitted the complaint on May 1,2014.

 

According to whois records, the domain name was first registered in 2003.

 Yahoo owns many trademark registrations for the “Yahoo” mark all over the world.Therefore,it is more than obvious that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar with its trademark .Moreover,the company contended in the complaint that the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name and that the respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith .

One of the key points of this complaint was when Yahoo managed to demonstrate that the respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith,by trying cause confusion and exploit that confusion for commercial gain.The domain name resolved to a blog offering links to download music.

Yahoo managed to establish all three elements required under the ICANN Policy and the Panel ordered the disputed domain name to be transferred from the respondent to the complainant.

You can read the decision here .