The new .asia domain name is now open for registration, Details of the rules for registration are available at http://www.registry.asia/policies/DotAsia-Sunrise-Policies–COMPLETE-2007-08-10.pdf.
Companies will be able to register domains for which they own a trademark and governments will get a chance to earmark those on a reserved list. General applications will be possible from February 2008 and the domain will ‘go live’ from March. The DotAsia Registry plans to use an auction to determine who gets domains wanted by more than one organisation. The highest bidder will win the right to the contested name.
This development chimes well with increasing interest in IT development opportunities in Asia. SCL is hold a seminar on 14 November on China, entitled China Law and Technology.
DotAsia Organisation Ltd., a not-for-profit organisation responsible for operating the .asia top-level domain registry, expects a positive response among organisations keen on registering their preferred and registered domain names; it officially opened the first two stages of its Sunrise period on Tuesday 9 October 2007.
DotAsia has over 110 accredited registrars around the world and they will start accepting priority registrations from registered trademarks and service marks holders as well as governments in the region until end of the month. DotAsia announced the Sunrise period schedule in June, divided into three distinct phases to ensure the stable and orderly introduction of the .asia extension. Since then, the Organisation has received substantial number of inquiries from different companies in various industry sectors around the world on how they can register their preferred domain names. The DotAsia team also went on an extensive world tour between August and September to meet with interested corporations. The world tour covered more than 20 cities around the world, including San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Brussels, Paris, Amman, New Delhi, Mumbai, Melbourne, Beijing, Xiamen, Shanghai, Xi’an, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Beyond in person meetings, DotAsia also participated in more than 15 web seminars and conference calls to promote and explain the .Asia Sunrise process to brand owners around the world. ‘We tried our best to reach out to the community and received positive feedback from all those we have met. Brand owners worldwide appreciate DotAsia’s efforts in the Sunrise process to provide them a calm and fair alternative compared with the previous chaotic rushes for domains when a registry opens,’ said Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia Organisation. The official opening of .asia registration this week will usher a new era in the region, with an Internet platform that provides value for companies from the region as well as enterprises looking to expand to Asia. ‘We strongly believe that a .asia domain name will provide value for business worldwide to speak and show their commitment to the Asia market, and for companies in Asia to establish a globally recognized and regionally significant presence online,’ said Chung. ‘Beyond just brand protection, .asia domain can be an asset to an enterprise’s corporate identity and can be utilized as a portal or gateway to the whole Asia market. Even for companies who may already have a presence in some specific countries in the region, .asia provides value for showing commitment for the rest of Asia.’
The Sunrise period is divided into three phases. Sunrise 1 (SR1) is for Governmental Reserved Names, and Sunrise 2 (SR2) provides priority for registered trademarks and service marks holders to register their corresponding domains, in which the process is further broken down into SR2a, SR2b and SR2c. Sunrise 3 (SR3) allows companies in the region to protect and use their name with the .Asia domain. SR2b, SR2c and SR3 will commence on 13 November 2007, and close on 15 January 2008. Priorities for each phase will be maintained.
