.eu Domain Approved – Clients Should Prepare to Register Their Trademarks Later This Year
April 6, 2005
ICANN has approved .eu as a country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD – similar to .us and .uk). EURid will be the registry operator for this new domain. .eu domains are not expected to be available for registration until the fourth quarter of this year, but when they are a “sunrise period” will help trademark holders win the race against cybersquatters.
Only the following entities can register an .eu domain:
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those having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the European Community
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those established within the European Community without prejudice to the application of the national law of the member state
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those natural persons residing within the European Community
Under EU Regulation 733/2002 on the implementation of the .eu domain, a business with an office in Europe that is established in compliance with the national laws of the country in which it is located should qualify for an .eu domain.
At the launch of .eu, there will be a sunrise period of four months, similar to the process previously used with the rollouts of .biz and .info. During this period, only public bodies and those with recognized rights to a name, such as trademark holders, may register a domain. This is to prevent cybersquatters from registering domains with others’ trademarks. The first two months of the sunrise period are reserved for public bodies and those with registered European Community or member state trademarks. During the last two months, businesses may register domains corresponding to other rights protected under the national law of the Community member state in which they are held, such as company names, business identifiers, unregistered trademarks, trade names and distinctive titles of protected literary and artistic works. EURid has appointed PriceWaterhouseCoopers to validate claims of prior rights during the sunrise period. After the sunrise period ends, anyone who meets the geographical criteria can register an address on a first-come, first-served basis. Trademark holders who meet the geographic requirements should seriously consider registering .eu domain names incorporating their trademarks during the sunrise period to avoid wrangling with cybersquatters later.
Currently, ICANN and EURid are working to add the .eu domain into the internet root server. Also, EURid is still finalizing its alternative dispute resolution rules and registrar and registry agreements. When the registrar agreement is completed, EURid can begin accrediting registrars to handle .eu domains. The timetable below provides a general outline of the process. More exact dates are expected to be provided shortly.
This timetable is from the EURid web site at http://www.eurid.org/euDomainNames/timetableLaunch.
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December 10, 2004 |
Signing of the formal contract with the European Commission to operate the .eu registry but still waiting for some authorizations from the EC |
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March 21, 2005 |
ICANN board approval of agreement with EURid to have .eu put in the root |
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ongoing |
Continue amendments to software to reflect the public policy rules and, in particular, the sunrise procedures |
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March 2005 |
Appoint validation agent for sunrise period |
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Mar/Apr 2005 |
Engage ADR suppliers and finalize ADR procedures |
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May 2005 |
Make the registrar agreement available, begin accrediting .eu registrars and publishing a list on the web site |
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ongoing |
Publish job description and begin recruiting staff |
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June 2005 |
Publish proposed .eu registration policy for comment |
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ongoing |
Develop website to provide key information in all official EU languages |
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Aug/Sept 2005 |
Make available the terms and condition of registration in official EU languages, including ADR provisions |
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Aug/Sept 2005 |
Announce final registration policy including sunrise rules and procedures and widely announce sunrise dates |
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Aug/Sept 2005 |
Make registration software available for registrar testing |
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4th Quarter 2005 |
Start phase 1 of sunrise period (public bodies and holders of trademarks may apply for the corresponding name) |
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Start of sunrise + 2 months |
Start phase 2 of sunrise period (those eligible to apply in phase 1 plus holders of other rights recognized in the national law of a member state may apply for the corresponding name) |
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start of sunrise + 4 months |
Sunrise period closes and registrations open on a first-come-first-served basis |
EURid website: www.eurid.org; ICANN web site: www.icann.org.
