New .eu domain 'as important as .com'

[mandy]

European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding said on Thursday that she expected “several hundreds of thousands” of companies to apply to use the new .eu domain name.

Reding spoke at a press conference in Brussels to announce the start of the “sunrise” period on Dec. 7, during which trademark holders and public bodies can apply to register .eu names.

The Commissioner said the .eu domain name would become “as important for European businesses as .com addresses.”...

full article: http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/News/7de6...a84ee.html

Cyber squatters ejected from .eu launch

Limited company owners will this week establish a pan-European presence on the Web as they rush to register the first batch of .eu domain names on a ‘first come -first served’ basis.

From Wednesday December 7, public bodies, trademark holders and registered companies will have four months to claim their own Europe-specific TLD and 40 days to prove their priority status.

The roll out of ‘dot.eu’ will be complemented by a second unveiling on February 2, when individuals with unregistered company names or trademarks will be invited to register.

full article: http://www.contractoruk.com/news/002415.html

[mandy]

Over 900,000 .eu domains were snatched up in the first day of open registration.

Some 300,000 Europeans rushed to register their new ".eu" domain names in the first hour of being able to sign up for the new Internet addresses, officials said Friday.

By midday, registrations had exceeded 550,000.

Until Friday, registration was limited to specific groups, such as registered trademark owners, public bodies and companies. Now, anyone who resides in the 25-nation European Union can buy a name on a first-come, first-served basis.

EU Commissioner Viviane Reding said the Commission hopes the new ".eu" name will one day rival the ".com" name...

full article: http://www.wirednews.com/news/culture/0,...n_index_11

[misteroriginal]

What the heck are you doing, Diger??? Buy misteroriginal.eu now!!!

[mandy]

The .EU landrush fiasco. A bumbling registry allows Europe's very own domain name to be highjacked!

Europe’s .EU domain is being hijacked!
What happens when you match an inept registry with crafty businessmen? The answer is a really large scam. This is what is taking place with the “landrush” introduction of the new .EU top level domain name. This breaking story is a fascinating study of both grand manipulation and lax administration on the part of the EURid registry...

There was a flaw in the process. It was too easy to create a registrar.
A few sly companies, the most notorious being a company I’ll call company “X” – which is believed to be backed by North American mega-millionaires — saw a loophole in the process. These companies, instead of only registering their real active registrars, created hundreds of new "phantom" registrars...

These new phantom registrars were created to hijack the .EU landrush....

full article: http://www.bobparsons.com/EULandrushFiasco.html

[mandy]

Update:

Cybersquatters who broke the rules when registering .eu domains can be stripped of them at any time, says .eu registry EURid. But if they manage to sell their domains before being caught, they can keep the proceeds, according to the registry.

Bitter controversy has surrounded the 'sunrise' period of the new domain, launched in April. Several existing domain registrar firms, including GoDaddy, have accused US profiteers of using a lax EURid system to stockpile valuable domain names against its rules.

EURid now says that it will confiscate domains at any time if they are found to have broken the rules. "If we find that someone has provided inaccurate or misleading information in the registration then we will take that domain off them," said EURid spokesman Patrik Linden. "We can do that at any time."...

full article: http://www.out-law.com/page-7034

[mandy]

Update:

Over 74,000 .eu domains have been suspended and 400 registering companies sued by the company in charge of the European Union's top-level domain.

Non-profit organisation EURid has taken legal action after a review of the system for .eu domains (which went live in April) revealed a small number of companies had registered several hundred phantom companies in order to manipulate the system...

All the 74,000 domains registered by the 400 registrars were now in the hands of just three companies - Ovidio Ltd, Fausto Ltd and Gabino Ltd, he explained. "We are convinced the registrars are just a front, and can be looked on as one and the same."...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/24/...suspended/

[mandy]

A related article:

There's more confusion over .eu domain assignments than stinkeye at the French Embassy. Lumbering American giants were beat out by smaller, quicker natives for domain dibs, as the same natives are crying foul over American speculators in a domain gold rush.

According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T screwed up its application and lost out on ATT.eu to a Polish stainless steel product company. The head honcho at the Polish ATT wasn't a bit sympathetic to the behemoth telecom's complaints:

"We didn't have a chance to get ATT.com," he said, and skipped out the door, domain in the bag...

full article: http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports...mains.html