.CAT on the internet

Welcome to .CAT, the newest sponsored TLD on the internet. PuntCat joins .travel and .jobs (and .EU) as new registries.

Registrar Certificates and .com/.net Domain Names

Anyone interested in registry obligations to provide registrar certificates for domain names in ACPA actions should read Continental Airlines Inc. v. ContinentalAirlines.com and ContinentalExpressAirlines.com, 390 F. Supp. 2d 501 (E.D.Va. July 13, 2005).

The Court says in a footnote that "because Verisign, the registry of the domain names [and is the .com and .net registry], is located in this judicial district, it is irrelevant that Verisign declined to submit a registrar certificate or other documentation with the Court to establish the Court's authority over the domain names. See CNN, 177 F. Supp. 2d at 514 n.17. The registrar certificate merely serves to establish the domain name's situs, an unnecessary step where, as here, the domain name registry is within the Court's jurisdiction. (Emphasis added) See 15 USC §1125(d)(2)(C)(i)-(ii)."

This is a very useful decision for anyone with non-US registrar issues involving .com and .net domain names.

Single Letter Domain Names

Two new letters have been posted on the Correspondence page of the ICANN website, one by Yahoo and one by Fish & Richardson on behalf of U. Inc. Both companies are in support of the release of single letter domain names.

If you traveled to Vancouver for the ICANN Annual Meeting, you might have also seen representatives from Overstock.com giving away "O" hats. Overstock had previously written to ICANN in support of the release of O.com. ICANN has also received a letter on the release of K.com.

If single letter domain names are to be released, I'd like to see more information on how these names are going to be made available (via auction, first come, first served release, select reservation or other methods). Companies are already claiming trademark rights in domain names that have yet to be made available.

Guess what was the most requested .EU domain on Day One

The top requested .EU domain name on day one was...Sex.EU. EURID quickly hit 100,000 domain name requests yesterday. For more, read the article in PC World.

New NAF Supplemental Rules Begin January 1

The National Arbitration Forum is updating its Supplemental Rules for the UDRP and other domain name disputes, effective January 1, 2006. For more information, read here: http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/NAFSupplementalRules.asp

Update - At first glance, changes include an increase in the supplemental filing fee from $250 to $400 (with a new proof of service requirement), a new $100 re-initiation fee, and increased filing fees. For 1-2 domain names, the new filing fee is $1300 (from $1150).

.EU Launch Begins Today

The .EU TLD begins its Sunrise Period today. For more information, visit EURID.eu.

News roundup

Dot-EU Domain Goes Live Today (Silicon.com) - Dec. 7

So Who Is Funding CFIT and Why? (The Register) - Dec. 7

EU Domain Name To Come Into Force (CBROnline.com) - Dec. 7

EU Plants ".eu" Internet Domain Name in Cyberspace (Pravda) - Dec. 7

Europe's Own Internet Space Starts Wednesday (Reuters) - Dec. 7

Back from Vancouver

I'm back from a fascinating, eye-opening week in Vancouver for the 2005 ICANN Annual Meeting. It was a long week, but worth the trip. The results of the meeting are better covered on other websites, but I will direct attention to the captioning from Saturday's Public Forum and the results of yesterday's Board Meeting.

Here's another website interested parties should pay much closer attention to:
gac.icann.org. The GAC Vancouver Communique is available here. The GAC also has a new Public Forum for comments on GAC activities.