Domain Name News – December 23, 2007

Worldwide Domain Registrations Top 146 Million – VeriSign’s quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief indicates that the global number of domain registrations has topped 146 million, representing a 31% annual increase. The largest TLDs are .com, .de, .net, .cn, .uk, and .org. The Chinese TLD .cn has surpassed .uk to become the second largest ccTLD. The number of ccTLD names grew to 54.6 million, a 38% annual growth rate.

.MOBI Registry Voids Auction Results – DotMobi, the registry operator for the .mobi domain, has announced that due to systems problems with the auction provider it is voiding the auction held earlier in December, and is planning to hold a new auction beginning on January 23.

ICANN Announces Implementation Date for WHOIS National Laws Procedure – ICANN has announced that it plans to implement a revised Procedure for Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law on January 17. According to the announcement, “[t]he procedure describes how ICANN will respond to a situation where a registrar or registry indicates (and seeks to demonstrate) that it is legally prevented by local/national privacy laws or regulations from complying with the provisions of its ICANN contract regarding the collection, display and distribution of personal data via WHOIS.”

.ASIA Sunrise Period Extended – DotAsia Organization, registry operator for the .asia domain, is extending the new domain’s sunrise period from January 15 to January 31. The sunrise period provides a means for organizations to protect their registered marks and entity names before the landrush period begins on February 20.

Input Sought on IDN ccTLD Policy Development – ICANN’s Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) is soliciting input on the need for policy development on the selection and delegation of IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes. Comments are being sought until January 25.

Picks To Click

• A messy legal dispute over nunavuttourism.com.
• CIRA has sent a letter to ICANN applauding ICANN’s progress in transparency and accountability, and confirming that CIRA is prepared to participate fully in ICANN activities again.
• Enterprise Rent-a-Car wins a dispute over ecar.ca and ecars.ca.
• Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit wins a dispute over mpshu.on.ca.

Timeline

• Thu, Jan 17: implementation date for ICANN procedure for handling WHOIS conflicts with privacy law
• Fri, Jan 25: last day for comments on policy development process for IDN ccTLDs.
• Thu, Jan 31: last day of .asia registry sunrise for marks, extended marks, entity names
• Sun, Feb 10 – Fri, Feb 15: ICANN meetings in New Delhi, India
• Fri, Feb 15: last day for submissions to midpoint review of NTIA/ICANN agreement
• Tue, Feb 20 – Mon, Mar 12: .asia domain landrush
• Mon, Mar 26: .asia domain first-come-first-served registrations begin
• Sun, Jun 22 – Fri, Jun 27: ICANN meetings in Paris, France