By Ann Ford and Ryan Compton
Today, May 11, 2011, marks the opening of the Sunrise period for reservation of the newly-created .ASIA domain names utilizing characters from the Chinese, Japanese and Korean written language. Referred to as “Internationalized Domain Names” or “IDNs,” these domains will allow for companies to register their company names in, for example, Chinese Kanji script followed by the .ASIA top-level domain. Today’s opening of the sunrise period allows registered businesses, registered trademark owners and existing owners of .ASIA top-level domains to register these new IDNs.
It is important to note that this sunrise period is not a landrush, wherein registration would be first-come-first-served. Rather, applications will be accepted from today until July 20, 2011, after which point any contested domains will be put to auction. Nonetheless, clients are encouraged to apply for their names as soon as possible, as the July 20 deadline will approach quickly. Shortly thereafter, on August 2, 2011, the landrush period will open, at which point registration will be granted first-come-first-served.
As always, please feel free to contact us at DLA Piper with any questions or concerns you might have concerning this or any other domain name registration or enforcement issues.