EuroDNS Blog

The US Department of Justice has a Task Force, and its mission is to fight domestic and international intellectual property (IP) crime. Their latest investigation brought to light the online sale of counterfeit goods, netting $896,000 and taking seven domain names into custody.

The warrant for the seizure of the seven domain names was issued by the District of Columbia on April 2012, Ronald C. Machen Jr, US Attorney for the district said, “Seizing the domain names of these unscrupulous operators was one big step, and seizing their ill-gotten proceeds should send them another message that these counterfeit sales will not be tolerated”.The investigation, Operation in our Sites, was originally launched in June 2010 by ICE’s (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Office of Homeland Security Investigations, and is a federal law enforcement initiative hunting IP pirates and online vendors of fake goods and copyrighted property. 

Cyber Monday I

On November 29, 2010, Operation in our Sites executed seizure orders against 24 domain names of websites selling counterfeit merchandise and copyrighted property, such as shoes, handbags, sunglasses, pirated DVDs and music, and sportswear. The ‘sting’ was instigated on Cyber Monday, the Monday following Black Friday. In the US Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and signals the start of Christmas shopping, Cyber Monday follows and is promoted as the biggest online shopping day of the year. The counterfeit goods, including fake Chanel, Nike and Cartier, were imported from China. One domain name seized, tvshack.cc, was a website acting as a ‘link’ between sites allowing users to obtain illegal copies of films and tv shows, tvshack.cc replaced tvshack.net, this domain name was terminated in June 2010.

Several of the online businesses continued trading, overcoming this technical glitch to their business by using new domain names; fraudsters in China selling fake sportswear and college sports jerseys forfeited their domain names when undercover agents purchased goods and confirmed them to be fake. PayPal Private Ltd was used for payment process with the money then wired to Chinese banks. 

Cyber Monday II

To celebrate the ‘biggest online shopping day of the year’ the US Department of Justice struck again, Operation in our Sites cast its net on November 28, 2011, and seized 150 domain names attributed to commercial websites selling spurious merchandise. The feds went undercover and purchased an array of goods with fake trademarks, manufactured abroad and imported to the US, the domain names were terminated.

The fight continues

Operation in our Sites has, to date, terminated 758 domain names of websites dealing in counterfeit goods. The IP Task Force continues to investigate and fight this on-going battle, endeavouring to protect the US against fraudsters who undermine the economic wellbeing of the country. The Task Force is currently working with IPEC (Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator) to improve the protection of intellectual property rights. 

Sedo and .ME Registry are joining forces to auction keyword rich .ME domain names, the auction takes place from May 26 until May 31, 2012.

There are 200 domain names available, predominantly keyword and geographic domain names. Examples from the list are computer.me, greencard.me, domainregistration.me, unitedkingdom.me. Unfortunately there are no outstanding ‘call to action’ names present, so the chance of topping the success of meet.me at $450,000, is unlikely.

.ME goes global

ICANN delegated the .ME domain to Montenegro in 2007, and the .ME Registry was elected to operate the extension. Montenegro was assigned the .ME domain as its ccTLD after the country became an independent nation in 2006. The government was quick to recognize the potential of the extension as a generic name and it became widely available in 2008, making the .ME domain available for worldwide registration. Similar to TLDs, the domain names can be geo-targeted by Google, which has a positive impact in terms of searches.

In August 2008, 100,000 .ME domain names were already registered, beating its rivals .ASIA and .MOBI, both launched prior to .ME. By 2010, over 320,000 domain names had been registered.

This is not the first auction held for.ME domain names and Sedo has to date, managed the sale of over 1,000 .ME domain names. Big name companies have jumped on the .ME bandwagon such as Facebook (fb.me), Yahoo! (me.me) and Time Magazine (ti.me), proving the popularity of this extension as a memorable TLD. 

Show .ME the love

Hugely popular in English speaking countries, during the land rush period date.me sold for $70,000, love.me for $32,500 and hug.me for $20,000. This extension has proved a big hit with domain hacks (‘Hack’, implying a trick as opposed to exploitation), i.e. a domain name created by combining domain levels and spelling the full name or title of a name, for instance, del.icio.us and goo.gl. 

Fiesta time in Spain as over one million domain names, with extension .ES, have been registered, with the slogan, “lo hemos conseguido, 1,000,000 de .ES”, roughly translated as, “we have exceeded, 1,000,000 .ES”.

Since 1988, when the .ES domain was created, the number of registrations has steadily grown but, it wasn’t until 20 years later that it reached a million. The sudden influx coincided with a change to registration rules, allowing any citizen to register a .ES domain name, at a much lower cost than previously. The .ES domain has experienced a growth of 17%, representing the largest increase in four years. With approximately 1,460,000 active domains at the end of 2011 this indicates an increase of over 200,000. 

Today, .ES is unrestricted and anyone in the world is able to register a domain name without having to prove local presence. With over 45 million inhabitants in Spain and the world’s second largest tourist industry, adopting a .ES domain name opens up a vast audience to businesses and individuals.

Don’t go loco, be a local hero

Another explanation for this recent growth spurt would be the marketing push encouraging websites, with content in Spanish, to promote their identity and location by adopting the .ES extension. The hope is that this will engender an increased appreciation of Spanish businesses, the businesses thus benefiting from improved web ranking, brand awareness, trust and quality of service.

facts&figures.es

• .ES accounts for approximately 50% of the Spanish market, 57% belong to individuals and the remaining 43% to corporations, limited partnerships, cooperatives, associations, etc.

• 2007 saw the government approve the use of accented characters in .ES domain names.

• The number of .ES domains not renewed in 2010 has decreased in 2011 by 29%.

• Geographic distribution – Madrid hosts 329,900 active domains, Catalonia 199,600, Andalucia 168,600. 

A strong presence in the main domain forums, including: CENTR, LACTLD and ICANN, has brought invaluable support. 

Pronto!

“Action is the foundational key to all success” Pablo Picasso

Already popular in Spain, the .ES domain extension has been used for ‘domain hacks’, a domain name using the extension letters to spell out the full name of the domain. Examples utilizing the .ES domain are geociti.es, beach.es and iTun.es.

EuroDNS offers a wide range of solutions and services to assist our customers with all their domain name requirements. For more information, please visit our website, or speak to one of our sales representatives at sales@eurodns.com.

In a world that has over 500 million Spanish speakers, it makes perfect sense, act now!

Holders of French domain names no longer have to settle for a name that does not meet their requirements, or say what they mean. Looking for ‘forêts’ or ‘forets’, ‘congres’ or ‘congrès’; could bring unexpected results, never again will a search for drills end up in the forest.

Try to say what you mean

Not always easy when your alphabet has been substantially reduced.

AFNIC (Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération), the administrator for the .FR domain, announced in February 2012, that from May 3, .FR domain names would be able to incorporate accented characters.

In 1985 the first domain name was registered, since then France (and many other countries) has struggled to incorporate their language into the domain name format. Prior to this new ruling, when a French domain name was written down the relevant accents were included, but if one searched online using accented characters – there was no guarantee it would work. 

Introducing internationalized domain names (IDN) to .FR allows domain name holders to present the true pronunciation and meaning of their brand. This new function also applies to .RE Réunion, .TF French Southern and Antarctic Lands, .WF Wallis and Futuna, .PM St Pierre et Miquelon, and .YT Mayotte ; characters available are: à, á, â, ã, ä, å, æ, ç, è, é, ê, ë, ì, í, î, ï, ñ, ò, ó, ô, õ, ö, ù, ú, û, ü, ý, ÿ, œ, ß.

Richelieu says, “très bien!"

This is surely good news for the Académie Française, established by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635, its role is to protect the French language against foreign influences, slang, and the degradation of the language.

Identity protection

AFNIC has decided to offer two registration periods:

• The priority period, from May 3 to July 3, allows users with existing domain names to register the exact equivalent utilizing accented characters and all its possible variants. AFNIC state, “If you have "peches.fr" you are entitled to register "pêchés.fr", "péchés.fr", "pèches.fr" etc. with the same registrar, for the same holder (i.e. with the same "NIC handle").” A NIC handle is the unique alphanumeric character sequence assigned by the registrar to a particular domain name, such as registrant’s name and email address. This period applies to users with domain names registered with .FR, .YT, .PM, .WF, .TF and .RE.

• General release begins on July 3 and there will be a ‘first come, first served’ policy. Any registered company or individual residing within the European Community (including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) may register a .FR domain name.

EuroDNS supports you

We would strongly recommend users contact their domain name registrar to confirm they offer IDN registration and if so, the availability of the various versions of their domain name.

From May 3, 2012, EuroDNS offers IDN registration on the aforementioned domain name extensions, .FR, .YT, .PM, .WF, .TF and .RE. Current holders of the relevant domain names should contact sales@eurodns.com, for assistance with obtaining new IDN versions of their domain names. 

EuroDNS is saluting Europe Day with a special, limited time offer on the .EU domain name extension. This promotion enables EuroDNS customers to register new or transfer existing domain names at a promotional rate. Valid until May 22, 2012, register a .EU domain name extension for only €0.99, enter the promo code PREU12C and benefit from this special deal available for two weeks only.

The EuroDNS promotion offers businesses and individuals the opportunity to register this hugely popular domain name extension, .EU, emphasizing the European identity of a website rather than restricting it to a single country. The .EU domain name extension is available to all organizations in and residents of EU member states, for companies dealing across the borders it offers a much wider audience. Register or transfer to a .EU domain name to open the door to over 500 million people in 27 countries.

The .EU domain was launched in 2005, with approval by ICANN in 2005. According to EURid (appointed by the European Commission to operate the .EU domain), “residents embraced the .EU web addresses when they became publically available on 7 April, 2006, registering 1.7 million within the launch month. Since then .EU registrations have more than doubled and we are fast approaching 3.6 million registrations”.

United in diversity

Paris, May 9, 1950, Robert Schuman, Luxembourgish born, French Foreign Minister, made an announcement to the press; he was asking for European countries to combine their coal and steel production with the intention of forming a European federation. Robert Schuman believed this to be the only way to unite Europe and maintain peaceful relations in the future; the “Schuman Declaration” saw the birth of what was to become the European Union. Europe Day or Schuman Day has become a symbol of a united Europe, and celebrates the continued peace and unity in Europe.

The EU’s ethos is based on several treaties which state that the EU is, "founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities..., in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail". 

Initially there were six founding countries in the EU, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; this number has now grown to 27, with Croatia expected to join and become the 28th member in July 2013.

The EuroDNS promotion

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “At EuroDNS we are currently offering our cus-tomers an excellent promotion on .EU domain names, for the next two weeks all .EU domain names are available for registration and transfer for only €0.99.”

Daniel continued, “EuroDNS does more than just register domain names; we also offer a constantly evolving range of solutions and services to assist our customers with all domain requirements. The list includes local presence service, Whois Privacy, and ProDNS which delivers safe and secure DNS services with no risk of data loss. For more information, customers can visit our website www.eurodns.com or speak to one of our sales representatives at sales@eurodns.com.”

To register or transfer an existing .EU domain at the unbeatable price of €0.99, visit our website, and enter promo code: PREU12C, valid till May 22, 2012.

Please check out the offers page on our website to find more promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS. 

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About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption.