Dot-co is not a dot-com typo

Trademarks get love with new domain launch

Next Thursday, .CO Internet will open a 'sunrise' period for trademark holders to claim their brands. Priority will be given to holders of Colombian trademarks. Global mark holders get their shot on 26 April. Any contested domains will go to auction.

A trademark on a dot-com brand will be enough to file a sunrise claim, according to marketing director Lori Anne Wardi. The sunrise period lasts until 10 June. After that, a three-week 'land-rush' phase kicks in.

This is the phase where domain speculators are most likely to get involved. Anybody can try to register a high-value dot-co, but contested claims will go to auction.

.CO Internet is also holding back a list of certain premium names, in order to get their full market value. There will likely be about 5,000 English, Spanish, French and German domains on the list, and they will be released a handful at a time at domainer auctions and trade shows.

Cybersquatting is inevitable in any name-space. To counter it, .CO Internet has contracted with the World Intellectual Property Organisation to administer a dispute resolution process identical to the one used by dot-com.

But the company is going two steps further, implementing a 'rapid suspension' process for clear-cut cases of cybersquatting, and a database of protected trademarks, to be administered by Deloitte. Both ideas are also currently on ICANN's drawing board for other domains.

There will be no Whois privacy either. Such services are banned, although they may be considered at a later date.

"It's about protecting the world's most famous marks," Calle said. "We wanted to take the pressure off those top brands. That's not what we're here for, frankly. We're about people creating new brands."