The Sunrise period ended on 22 July and the Landrush period is currently underway, ending on 26 August, for .COM.DE domain names. Promoted as an alternative to .DE, the largest ccTLD with 14.5 million registrations, the operators are suggesting that registrants consider the sub-domain as “presenting a fresh opportunity to establish world-class presence in the world’s busiest domain market.” The sub-domain is backed by CentralNic who also operate EU.COM, UK.COM and .LA. Following the Lanrush period there will be a .DE Owner Promotion running from 30 August to 23 September. The .DE Owner Promotion is open to all registrants of a .DE domain, wishing to secure the same name under .COM.DE, where that Domain Name was not previously registered or applied for during the Sunrise or Landrush Processes, or excluded by the Registry. Only domains that exactly match the .DE equivalent, and have the same registrant, will be registered in the registry at the end of the period. Then finally will be General Availability from 26 September when .COM.DE domains will become available to anyone through participating registrars or their resellers. Except where registered or applied for during the Sunrise or Landrush period or excluded by the Registry, .COM.DE domains are available to the public based on the chronological order of registrations on a first come, first served basis. In other .COM.DE issues, domains will be DNSSEC signed upon launch, DENIC have confirmed that the business model does not contravene its policies, policies are in place to deal with phishing and abusive registrations and with support and guidance from WIPO, CentralNic developed a Dispute Resolution Policy that facilitates the resolution of disputes between trademark holders and registrants of .COM.DE domain names. In addition, the service includes free mediation to assist the settling of disputes in a professional and efficient manner. For more information on .COM.DE domain names, check out the .COM.DE website at com.de .

As it approaches the one million mark for .XXX domain name expressions of interest, ICM Registry has announced it will be extending its Sunrise period, running for 50 days from 7 September, due to the volume of prelaunch interest in the domain. ICM Registry has received nearly 900,000 expressions of interest for .XXX domain names during its pre-reservation process. The “Sunrise” period, due to commence in fifty days time, has been designed to both permit domain registration from members in the adult entertainment business, and to assist brand managers from other industries who want to protect their trademarks ahead of wider availability. The new Sunrise period will now run for 50 days commencing 7 September 2011 and finishing on 28 October 2011. The extended period will enable ICM Registry to receive and process all applications from existing domain name and trademark owners who have applied to either opt their brand in or out of the .XXX registry. While ICM Registry holds responsibility for administering the .XXX domain name, it is working closely with individual domain registrars – the vendors handling the registration and exemption process for .XXX. The one-off fee to exempt, set by individual registrars, provides businesses with a cost-effective solution which to permanently safeguard their Intellectual Property (IP) within the .XXX registry. This service, which ensures web addresses are not registered by others at a later date, is without annual fees, and will only be available to rights owners during the restricted Sunrise period. “We believe the Sunrise period offers businesses a comprehensive rights protection mechanism where they can protect their brands and trademarks,” said Stuart Lawley, CEO of ICM Registry. “We are advising businesses to either opt-in or opt-out and want to give them the best opportunity to do so at the launch of our new TLD. Given the high level of interest in the domain, we see that many businesses wish to be proactive in avoiding any brand conflicts.” After the close of Sunrise, a Landrush period will run for 18 days where businesses from the adult entertainment industry will have premium access to remaining .XXX domains, following which general availability will ensue. Sunrise applicants using registered marks to qualify will be required to own a subsisting trade or service mark registration of national effect. “Although the .XXX extension is targeted at the adult entertainment industry, brand owners from any industry will need to be aware of its launch,” said Jonathan Robinson, Director, IPRota. “The Sunrise period offers brand managers a unique opportunity to secure relevant trademarked terms ahead of wider availability, effectively safeguarding them.” “We wanted to take an innovative approach to the launch of .XXX and show best practice at all stages including investing in a global awareness campaign,” said Lawley. “ICM Registry believes in consumer choice, and while we believe the .XXX will satisfy the needs of the sponsored community, we recognise there is also an audience who would like to opt-out and safeguard their IP prior to the domain going live”. The pre-reservation for .XXX is now closed, with on-going enquiries being handled by ICANN-accredited registrars. For more information, please see icmregistry.com or Europe Registry , your ICANN-accredited registrar.

Nominet released 79 uncontested .UK short domains Wednesday following the close of the Unregistered Rights Sunrise this week. This release follows the closure of the IP rights validation period of the Registered Rights Sunrise phase on 31 January 2011 and 99 uncontested domains were registered on 7 February 2011.

Asia is continuing its rapid growth as the world’s most populated Internet marketplace, with an expectation to expand to more than 2 billion Internet users in 2013.

Change of status for the domain name 3.org.uk The domain name 3.org.uk was registered at the end of the Registered Rights Sunrise phase. Following registration, an objection was raised concerning the IP rights provided by the applicant for that domain. This objection has been upheld by CMS, our IP validation rights agency and the domain name has now been made available for registration during the Unregistered Rights Sunrise phase.

[news release] The deadline for submitting IP rights validation for the Registered Rights Sunrise phase for the release of short .uk domains closed on 31 January. Our rights validation agency are now completing work on the most recent applications. On Monday 7 February we will issue an update on Registered Rights Sunrise applications and announce details for the Unregistered Rights Sunrise phase

[news release] The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) extended the registration in the (dotEmarat) Sunrise period for an additional six months to give Trademark owners greater opportunity to take advantage of the unique offer. TRA is encouraging Trademarks owners to apply during the Sunrise period to benefit from a wide range of benefits including the ease of registration process and the competitive cost. Furthermore, the current stage witnesses less competition to obtain a (dotEmarat) domain name