DotAsia recently announced the Sunrise process and timeline for a priority registration period for companies and government bodies with prior established rights to register their asia-domains. This follows the recent announcement of the addition of the asia-domain to the Internet root, allowing public and private enterprises, brands, and marketers to add a strong sense of affiliation to corporate brands and online identities and communicate their commitment to Asia.

The Sunrise period, which will begin in October 2007, will be divided into three phases.

Sunrise 1 (SR1) is designed for Governmental Reserved Names, which are focused mainly on geographical names and names that are relevant for governments in the context of the .Asia domain.

Sunrise 2 (SR2) provides priority for registered trademarks and service marks holders to register their corresponding domains.

Sunrise 2 (SR2) is further refined into 3 sub-phases to provide a reasonably thorough program to allow companies to protect their marks and brands.

SR2a: Early Bird Sunrise for trademarks registered earlier (applied for before March 16, 2004) and have demonstrable usage

SR2b: General Marks Sunrise for newer trademarks (applied for before December 6, 2006) or marks that have not yet been actively used

SR2c: Extended Protection for trademark owners to protect their brands beyond the term itself but also domain names that are relevant to their lines of businesses: e.g. XYZ.Asia and XYZcomputers.Asia. Sunrise 3 (SR3) allows companies in the region to protect and use their name with the asia-domain.

Sunrise 1 (SR1) and Sunrise (SR2a) will begin concurrently on October 9, 2007. SR2a application period will end on October 30, 2007. SR2b, SR2c and SR3 will commence on November 13, 2007, and close on January 15, 2008. Priorities for each phase will be maintained.

Learning from the experience of past domain launches where chaotic situations arise because of a huge number of interested parties racing to register the domain names they want, DotAsia is implementing a more stable process for managing the expected initial demand for domain names by companies and businesses to protect their corporate identity online. During the Sunrise phases and sub-phases, all applications of domain names within the period specified will be considered to be received at the same time. This significantly eases the pressure for hastened applications within moments of the registry opening. If a domain name received only one qualified application, the domain will be allocated to the applicant accordingly. If a domain name received more than one qualified application, an auction will be held between the two or more qualified applicants. Auctions will be mainly conducted online and with a high level of transparency for bidders.

"A simplistic first-come-first-served model essentially renders into a chaotic lottery-like situation during the opening moments of a domain registry. We have studied previous launches, and have gone through an extensive community process in the creation of the Sunrise policies, including multiple public drafts," adds Mr. Chung, CEO of DotAsia. "Generally, we believe this is a more stable and assuring process, and one which encourages positive usage and adoption for .Asia domain names."

The process also means it would be more economical for most companies. Bruce Tonkin, long-time chairman of the Generic Names Supporting Organization at ICANN, and now ICANN board member said he prefers the auction system because "it may work out cheaper for companies than paying multiple registrars to get to the head of the registration queue, as has been the case in other domain name launches."

DotAsia Organization is committed to the long term growth and evolution of the Internet. "We are adopting a comprehensive set of policies to protect the rights of others, and companies to ensure the stable and orderly introduction of the .Asia extension into the social and technical fabric of the Internet," commented Edmon Chung, CEO, DotAsia Organisation.

Hans-Peter Oswald http://www.domainregistry.de/asia-domain.html

About the Author

Hans Peter Oswald is the CEO of ICANN accredited Registar Secura