.RUHR: First New Geographical TLD Starts
The Internet became a bit more colorful today, with regiodot GmbH celebrating the launch of the new domain ending .ruhr, the first of the new domain endings with geographical reference to cities or regions. “With the introduction of .ruhr, Germany is at the starting gates for the largest expansion of domain names in the history of the Internet”, said the delighted lawyer Thomas Rickert, Director Names and Numbers at eco – Association of the German Internet Industry.
Starting on the 21st January 2014 is the month-long “Sunrise Phase”, during which only the owners of registered trademarks will be able to register Internet addresses with the new ending .ruhr. After this, from the 25th February, there will be a phase for anyone interested from the Ruhr area, and then, from the 27th March 2014, there will be general availability, when anyone can register their .ruhr-desired-domain.
From .berlin to .tokyo – global scale with local significance
The geoTLD .berlin will be the next to follow, with its Sunrise Phase starting on 14th February. The exact starting dates for further endings are yet to be announced, as the Internet address administrator, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is introducing the new TLDs a few at a time. The range of Top Level Domains will be further enriched through .tokyo, .africa, .paris, .wien, .nyc, .tirol, .kyoto, .swiss and .moscow, along with hundreds more.
“Regional Top Level Domains allow a stronger identification with one’s own region, as well as shorter paths in Internet searches”, said Rickert. It can be very useful, for example, for restaurants or for the manual trades, whose services are usually provided within the local region. With an address like pizza.nyc, no one would expect to find a pizza service in Los Angeles. “Users can more quickly find what they are looking for. Also looking at it from the perspective of search-machine rankings, a regional domain can be helpful”, said Anja Elsing from regiodot GmbH, explaining further advantages of the new geoTLDs.
Pre-register multiple times – pay only once
Each domain will only be offered once worldwide. “Whoever wants to increase their chances in the delegation process should reserve their desired address with multiple registrars”, Rickert recommends. Payment is only required at the end of the process, and only once, when the desired address is actually received.
The new address endings give both businesses and private people interesting opportunities to leave the well-trodden path and branch out in new directions. Instead of being an unavoidable ending tacked on to a web address, these new gTLDs could become a creative component in the naming process of a company. It is therefore becoming more possible to play with ideas, to vary, and to think around corners. “Hundreds of new endings offer the possibility to get closer to the target group thematically (such as .software or .golf), geographically, or linguistically (for example, using the Cyrillic alphabet or Chinese characters)”, said Rickert. “As an association, we at eco want to ensure that everyone interested knows about the chances connected with the new TLDs and can take action before it’s too late. An early application for a desired domain is essential.”
This eco announcement was sourced from:
international.eco.de/2014/press-releases/ruhr-first-new-geographical-top-level-domain-starts.html
TLDH Announces Raising $34m, Board Changes And gTLD Update
Top Level Domain Holdings, the applicant for the fourth largest number of gTLDs (92) for both itself and clients, has announced it has conditionally raised £21 million (approximately US$33.6 million) from institutional and other investors to develop its services and contest gTLD auctions. In addition it announced Tucows’ Elliot Noss has joined the board, replacing Guy Elliott, and given an update on the status of all of its applications.
In the gTLD update, TLDH currently has interests in 24 uncontested gTLD applications, which it is progressing to operational launch through its wholly-owned registry services business, Minds + Machines Limited. It is also developing its global network of registrars through which names in the new domains can be sold to the public.
For more information on the above and other issues, see the TLDH announcement below:
Placing to raise £21 million; Board Changes
Highlights
- £21 million (approximately US$33.6 million) conditionally raised from institutional and other investors
- Cash balances on completion in excess of approximately US$48 million with an additional US$15 million available to compete in a single private auction
- Elliot Noss, President and CEO of Tucows, Inc (NASDAQ:TCX) to join Board as a non-executive director
- Company to be re-named Minds + Machines Limited to reflect transition to a full operating business
Placing
The Board of Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, is delighted to announce that the Company has today conditionally placed 175,000,000 new ordinary shares (the “Ordinary s”) through N+1 Singer as broker to the Company at a placing price of 12p per Ordinary Share (the “Placing Price”) with institutional and other investors to raise £21 million before expenses (equivalent to approximately US$33.6 million at current exchange rates) subject to admission (the “Placing”).
The Company intends to use the Placing proceeds to continue developing its registry and registrar operations, Minds + Machines LLC and Minds + Machines Registrar Limited, as well as to provide additional funding for participation in the relevant private auction rounds for the 43 contested generic top-level domain (“gTLD”) applications in which TLDH has an interest. The Company believes private auctions provide a significant opportunity for the Company both to increase the number of high-value gTLDs within its portfolio and to generate cash from those gTLDs which it chooses to relinquish. Under the private auction process, the winning bid is divided equally and paid to the losing applicants net of the auctioneer’s fees.
The new Ordinary Shares being issued pursuant to the Placing will, on issue, rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in issue and application will be made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Trading in the new Ordinary Shares on AIM is expected to commence on or around 5 February 2014.
Status of Operations and Available Cash
TLDH was the fourth largest new gTLD programme applicant after Donuts, Inc., Google, Inc., and Amazon, Inc. having submitted 92 new gTLD applications on behalf of itself and its clients in 2012. TLDH has subsequently established itself as one of the major participants in the Internet governing body’s new gTLD programme and currently has interests in 24 uncontested gTLD applications, which it is progressing to operational launch through its wholly-owned registry services business, Minds + Machines Limited. TLDH is also developing its global network of registrars through which names in the new domains can be sold to the public. The Company is further extending its sales channel reach through the recent launch of its wholly-owned registrar business, Minds + Machines Registrar Limited, and priority reservation service, OPENdb. Launched in November 2013, the industry and consumer interest in priority reservations continues to be strong.
TLDH also has a further 43 wholly-owned new gTLD applications which are in contention with one or more applicants for the following strings:
.app .art .baby .beauty
.blog .book .cloud .coupon
.cpa .cricket .data .dds
.deals .design .dog .eco
.fashion .flowers .garden .gay
.green .home .hotel .immo
.inc .latino .law .llc
.love .pizza .property .realestate
.restaurant .school .site .soccer
.store .style .tech .video
.vip .wedding .yoga
As indicated above, the Company intends to use the Placing proceeds to provide additional funding for participation in the relevant private auction rounds for the contested generic top-level domain (“gTLD”) applications in which TLDH has an interest.
On completion of the Placing, the Company’s cash balances will increase to in excess of US$48 million (approximately £30 million). In addition, as previously announced, the Company also has a funding facility in place for up to US$15 million (equivalent to approximately £9.4 million) to support its participation in a single prospective auction for one contested gTLD. The Directors therefore believe the Company is now very well positioned to participate fully in the auctions and maximise the value of the contested gTLD applications in which the Company is interested.
In addition, the Company has an interest in a further 10 contested applications listed below, seven of which are third party client applications and three of which are joint venture applications with the Federation Internationale de Basketball (.basketball), the International Rugby Board (.yogarugby) and Tucows, Inc. (.yogagroup).
.basketball .broadway .casino
.group .music .poker
.radio .rugby .tickets
.tube
Board Changes
As part of the Company’s impending transition from an investment company to a full operating business, the Board is also delighted to announce that, subject to the satisfactory completion of standard regulatory checks in compliance with the AIM Rules, Mr Elliot Noss has agreed to join the Board of TLDH as a non-executive director. Mr Noss is President and CEO of Tucows, Inc, one of the largest domain registrars.
Mr Guy Elliott will at the same time step down from the Board. Mr Elliott was a founding director of the Company and has played a key role in the development of the Company’s portfolio of gTLD investments.
Fred Krueger, Chairman of TLDH, commented:
On behalf of the Board I would like to personally thank Guy for his wise counsel and support over the years and we wish him well on his other projects. We are likewise delighted that Elliot Noss has accepted our invitation to join the Board as a non-executive director at this key time in our development. Elliot is a highly regarded and respected individual within the domain industry and we welcome the additional commercial and operational perspectives he can bring as we continue to build our registry and registrar operations and commence the commercial launch our gTLDs. We are also exceptionally pleased by the level of interest from institutions to the placing which has exceeded our expectations.
Proposed Change of Name, Transition to an Operating Business and Re-Admission
The Company is now fully focused on commercialising its gTLD assets through its registry, registrar and registry service provider operations. As a result, the Board intends to implement fully a number of changes to the way in which TLDH is managed which will have the effect of changing the status of the Company from an investing company under the AIM Rules to an operating company with a material trading activity. As part of this transition, the Directors intend to change the name of the Company to Minds + Machines Limited, the same name as the Company’s 100 per cent. owned subsidiaries, operating in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The Directors believe the change of name will benefit stakeholder communications and branding significantly.
The change to an operating company with a material trading activity would be classified as reverse takeover of the Company under the AIM Rules and therefore would be conditional, inter alia, upon the approval of Shareholders at the Meeting of Shareholders. The Company is at an advanced stage of preparation of a circular to shareholders and a further announcement is expected to be made during February.
Total Voting Rights
Following the issue of the new Ordinary Shares, the Company’s issued share capital will consist of 825,558,522 Ordinary Shares, with voting rights. This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculation by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
The above TLDH announcement was sourced from:
www.tldh.org/2014/01/placing-to-raise-21-million-board-changes/
Norid Consults On .NO For Individuals
The Norwegian registry, Norid, has opened a consultation as to whether individuals should be entitled to register .no domain names in addition to priv.no.
“There are different opinions about this issue, and we hope that many people will participate in the discussion and give their input to the proposal,” said Hilde M. Thunem, Managing Director of UNINETT Norid AS.
The consultation paper and information on how to submit a response is available from kari-og-ola.norid.no/ (in Norwegian only). Submissions close on 11 March 2014.
Sedo To Hold DotAsia Premium Auction this month
Sedo is hosting this month the DotAsia Premium auction. The auction starts on February 13, 2014 and end one week later, on February 20,2014.
The auction features 53 premium .asia domain names,at all price ranges.
Here is the inventory:
00.asia 1,000 – 4,999 USD
20.asia 500 – 999 USD
3q.asia 500 – 999 USD
65.asia 500 – 999 USD
6t.asia 500 – 999 USD
du.asia 500 – 999 USD
f4.asia 500 – 999 USD
kd.asia 500 – 999 USD
m7.asia 500 – 999 USD
r8.asia 500 – 999 USD
ru.asia 500 – 999 USD
w9.asia 500 – 999 USD
wi.asia 500 – 999 USD
zz.asia 500 – 999 USD
38.asia 500 – 999 USD
40.asia 500 – 999 USD
4g.asia 500 – 999 USD
7x.asia 500 – 999 USD
80.asia 500 – 999 USD
an.asia 500 – 999 USD
jx.asia 500 – 999 USD
le.asia 500 – 999 USD
ll.asia 500 – 999 USD
oo.asia 1,000 – 4,999 USD
pj.asia 500 – 999 USD
xs.asia 500 – 999 USD
yx.asia 500 – 999 USD
11.asia 500 – 999 USD
2k.asia 500 – 999 USD
86.asia 500 – 999 USD
g6.asia 500 – 999 USD
ii.asia 1,000 – 4,999 USD
mi.asia 500 – 999 USD
mr.asia 500 – 999 USD
qp.asia 500 – 999 USD
qw.asia 500 – 999 USD
u2.asia 1,000 – 4,999 USD
vk.asia 500 – 999 USD
33.asia 500 – 999 USD
77.asia 500 – 999 USD
93.asia 500 – 999 USD
9z.asia 500 – 999 USD
a7.asia 500 – 999 USD
er.asia 500 – 999 USD
f8.asia 500 – 999 USD
j2.asia 1,000 – 4,999 USD
nx.asia 1,000 – 4,999 USD
rr.asia 500 – 999 USD
uk.asia 500 – 999 USD
ok.asia 500 – 999 USD
Check out Sedo.com for more information.
AOL Wins AOLJobsWeek.com Domain Name in Arbitration
An arbitrator with the National Arbitration Forum has recently awarded the domain name AOLJobsWeek.comto AOL Inc..The company submitted the complaint on Decemerb 6, 2013.
According to whois records, the domain name was first registered in 2012.
AOL owns many trademark registrations for the “AOL” 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 AOL Inc. managed to demonstrate that the respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith,by offering the disputed domain name for sale to the public.
AOL 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 .
