1.5 years have passed since the official launch of .EU and now it is time again for the hype.
.ASIA is - together with .EU - the 2nd most important Top Level Domain launch in the history of domains. As with the introduction of .EU, the .ASIA launch is divided into a Sunrise phase for registrants with prior rights and then a Landrush phase open for all.
MANY trademark holders did not secure their intellectual property as .EU in the Sunrise period. And when .EU opened for all they were taken right in front of their noses by cybersquatters and other 3rd parties. As many sooner noticed, the difficulty and cost of recovering a domain, is far beyond the cost of securing it in the Sunrise period.
This time around I am afraid that we will see the same picture. 14 days before the .EU landrush 400 registrars from New York became official .EU registrars. What happened next was a complete vacuum cleaning of any .EU domain which had web traffic written over it.
At the moment Sunrise 2a is running for trademark holders (filing date before March 2004). On the 13th of November Sunrise 2b is opening (filed before 6th of December 2006). As long as the trademark or other intellectual property are registered, then it is possible to apply.
Where the Sunrise period for .EU was on a first come, first served basis, the .ASIA launch is based on an auction between several rightful applicants. For sure a more fair system, especially if DotAsia, the hostmaster, destines, as promised, a large amount of the income to charity.
Christopher Hofman Laursen - CEO and founder of European Domain Centre ApS
http://www.europeandomaincentre.com
Secures IP and other business names as domains worldwide for companies. Provides online availability check of +200 top level domains
Source: www.a1articles.com