".io" Country Code Domain Names

 

Jane Lambert

In Welsh Top Level Domain Names  12 April 2019 I described domain names as mnemonics for addresses of resources on the internet.  They contain at least two elements: 

• a top level domain ("TLD") at the right of the domain name which may be the abbreviation of a country such as ".uk", ".de", "fr" or "it" or a description o the organization such as ".com", ".org" or ".net"; and 
• a second level domain ("SLD") immediately to the left such as "bbc" or "google".

Often there is a third element immediately to the left of the SLD such as "www" for "worldwide web".  

In the article, I said that TLDs that are specific to a country, group of countries or territory are known as "country code top level domains" or "ccTLD". Those that are not are known as "generic top level domains" or "gTLD". Because country codes are not allocated to political subdivisions, there are a number of geographically specific gTLD for cities and regions.  One well-known example of a domain name for a city is ".london".  Another for a region is ".cat" for Catalonia.  There are two for Wales which are administered by Nominet:  ".cymru" and ".wales."

Country code top level domains are administered by "national network information centres" or "NIC" some of which are controlled by governments.  Most NIC impose very strict nationality or residence qualifications for registrations in their domain space but there are a few that do not.  One of those exceptions is "NIC-IO", the network information centre of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The country code TLD for that territory is ".io".

Since I started to study Welsh systematically in August I have learned that a large number of verbs in that language end in ".io".  It occurred to me that the "io" domain might be popular for Welsh language websites.   I entered a few familiar verbs with the dot separator before the last two letters into the address bar of my browser and found a few examples almost immediately.  The letters "lic.io" led me to a website called "Lunch in Cardiff" with a video of landmarks in the city.  Similarly, "siop.io" led me to 

"a local bilingual marketplace platform built with coffee, code & toasties over lockdown, in order to provide a better way for you to shop locally with independent food and drink businesses, restaurants, pubs & takeaways."

Other verbs such as "cof.io" and "is.io" led me to landing pages that advertised that the sites were for sale or rent.  In the case of "cof.io" for the memorable minimum rent of US$100 per month.  Having said that, there were still a lot of obvious names that are still available.   As of this morning, an employment agency might be interested to know that "gweith.io" has not yet been taken. It was offered to me for US$90. Similarly, ballet teachers might tombé for "dawns.io" which was available for the same fee.

For some businesses, an ".io" domain might be a good alternative to a ".wales" or a ".cymru" domain name.  However, apart from the somewhat stiff registration fee, there are a number of other matters that prospective registrants might want to bear in mind.  

The British Indian Ocean Territory was created by detaching the Chagos islands from Mauritius and the Des Roches islands from Seychelles before those countries had achieved independence.  The inhabitants of the Chagos islands were then deported to make way for the construction of a military base for US and British forces on Diego Garcia.  Both Mauritius and Seychelles claim the islands and the Chagossians have challenged the legality of their deportation in the English and other courts.  The Mauritian claim has been supported by the UN General Assembly in a resolution calling for the decolonization of the territory which was passed overwhelmingly on 22 May 2019.

Businesses wishing to acquire a ".io" domain can apply directly through the NIC.io website which is operated by the English company Internet Computer Bureau Ltd.  The company acts as registrar and runs the ".io" whois service.  Applicants are advised to read the company's policies and in particular the Dispute Resolution Policy.  Claims by trade mark owners for the transfer of domain names are resolved by panellists appointed by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre in accordance with the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.  That is the same as the procedure for resolving disputes relating to the ".cymru" and ".wales" domains which I mentioned in my previous article. 

This article is the latest of several serendipitous consequences of my learning Welsh.  I am often asked why I am taking the trouble to learn Welsh when I don't live in Wales and cannot claim a millilitre of Welsh blood in my veins.  A question that is asked much more frequently by Welsh people than by English, Scots or Irish. 

The answer is the same as for any language.   It is the key to understanding a culture.  In the case of Welsh, one that has coexisted many centuries with our own but is nevertheless very different and distinct.  The online service provider that has taught me Welsh much more rapidly and efficiently than my school teachers taught me classical and modern languages has already introduced me to animated films, chanteuses and earworms that have delighted me.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or domain names generally may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form. 

Welsh IP Cases: D2016-0485 ALDI GmbH & Co. KG v. Mahfuz Ali

Jane Lambert


WIPO (Richard Hill) Case No. D2016-0485 ALDI GmbH & Co. KG v. Mahfuz Ali  20 April 2016

In Welsh Top Level Domain Names 12 April 2019 I discussed the provisions for resolving disputes between trade mark owners and holders of ".wales" or ".cymru" domain names.  I searched the WIPO's database of panel decisions to see whether there had been any disputes relating to either of those TLD and discovered this decision by Mr Richard Hill.

The respondent had registered the domain name <aldi.wales> in 2015 but not used it. The complainant, ALDI GmbH & Co. KG, operated over 9,500 discount supermarkets around the world. It had registered the ALDI as a trade mark in Germany under registration number 1913288 on 26 Jan 1981. Mr Hill noted that that trade mark was famous.  The complainant sought the transfer of the domain name on the following grounds:

"(i) Complainant's trademark has a strong reputation and is widely known, (ii) it is not possible to conceive of any plausible actual or contemplated active use of the domain name by Respondent that would not be illegitimate, such as by being a passing off, an infringement of consumer protection legislation (e.g. prohibition of misleading), or an infringement of Complainant's rights under trademark law, (iii) prior to initiation of the URDP proceeding, Respondent has not reacted to an e-mail of Complainant despite several reminders, (iv) Respondent cannot have ignored Complainant's trademark at the time of registration and (v) there are no indications of any good faith use of the disputed domain name. Therefore Complainant comes to the conclusion that Respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith."

The respondent did not reply to those contentions.

Mr Hill found for the complainant and ordered the domain name to be transferred to that party. 

Noting that the domain name contained the complainant's trade mark in its entirety, he observed that is generally sufficient to establish identity or confusing similarity for the purposes of the UDRP. Further, the gTLD ".wales" combined with the well-known trade mark ALDI was likely to be understood by Internet users as referring to ALDI geographically located in Wales or near to it.  Mr Hill concluded that the disputed domain name was identical or confusingly similar to a trade mark in which the complainant had rights.

The respondent had not been licensed or otherwise authorized to use the complainant's mark. There was no evidence to indicate that the respondent was commonly known by the disputed domain name. The disputed domain name was not being used. As the complainant had made out an unrebutted prima facie case, Mr Hill found that the respondent did not have rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name.

Mr Hill held that the domain name had been registered and was used in bad faith for the following reasons.  First,  the complainant's mark was famous. Secondly. there had been no response to the complaint. Thirdly, the disputed domain name associates the complainant's famous mark with a geographical indicator, the gTLD ".wales", which could lead Internet users mistakenly to believe that the disputed domain name was associated with complainant's activities in that region.

Anyone wishing to discuss this case or domain names generally should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Welsh Top Level Domain Names

ICANN's Head Office

Author Coolcaesar

Licence Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 unported

Source Wikipedia Internet

Jane Lambert

A domain name is a mnemonic for an address on the internet.  It must have at least two elements:

• a top-level domain ("TLD") such as ".com" or ".uk"; and
• a second level domain which can be registered with the operator of the TLD registry.

Usually, there is a third level domain such as "www" for "worldwide web."   In a typical "universal resource locator" such as "www.nipclaw.com" the third level domain name is on the left, the second level domain name is in the middle and the top level domain name is on the right.

Top Level Domains

There are two kinds of TLD:

• ccTLD (country code top-level domains) such as ".au" for Australia, ".cn" for China, ".de" for Germany, ".fr" for France, ".jp" for Japan and ".uk" for the United Kingdom; and
• gTLD (generic top-level domains) such as ".com" for a commercial organization, ".org" for an organization and ".net" for a network.

A list of country code top-level domains appears here and a list of the original generic top-level domains appears here.

ICANN

The domain name system is managed by a California not-for-profit corporation known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") which is located in Los Angeles. ICANN delegates the administration of TLDs to generic and country code top-level domain operators such as Nominet which runs the ".uk" space and Verisign which runs the ".com" space. 

Geographically Specific gTLDs

Country code TLDs were not originally allocated to political subdivisions of countries.  However, in 2005 ICANN authorized the Fundació puntCat to sponsor the registration of TLDs ending in ".cat" as URLs for Catalan language sites or sites about Catalonia.  Further, in 2007 it authorized the registration of ".asia" TLDs for URLs for sites about Asia or the Pacific.  The ".cat" and ".asia" TLDs were not ccTLDs but gTLDs designating specific geographical areas.

New gTLD

In 2012 ICANN invited bids for new gTLDs. These could include TLDs for cities such as ".london" and ".tokyo" and regions such as ".scot" as well as brands and generic names like ".top", ".loan" and ".xyz".  Nominet bid successfully for the right to launch ".cymru" and ".wales" registration services and entered agreements with ICANN for the operation of the ".cymru" and ".wales" TLD spaces on 8 May 2014.

Nominet's Welsh Domain Name Registration Services

Nominet operates its ".cymru" and its ".wales" registration services separately from its ".uk" services.  It markets those services through separate Welsh and English language websites at eincartrefarlein.cymru and ourhomeonline.wales. The sites promote ".cymru" and ".wales", provide "whois" searches and link to a blog.  Nominet does not register ".cymru" or ".wales" domain names directly. Instead, it introduces applicants to registrars that offer registration services for such TLD.

UDRP 

ICANN requires all operators of gTLD spaces to oblige their registrars to incorporate provisions for resolving certain disputes between trade mark owners and domain name holders known as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute-Resolution Policy ("UDRP") into their domain name registration agreements.  This is quite separate from the Dispute Resolution Service that Nominet offers for the resolution of similar disputes that relate to ".uk" ccTLDs.

Applicant's Representations

Every applicant for the registration or renewal of a ".cymru" or ".wales" domain name must make the following representation and give the following warranty to his or her registrar in accordance with paragraph 2 of the UDRP:

"By applying to register a domain name, or by asking us to maintain or renew a domain name registration, you hereby represent and warrant to us that (a) the statements that you made in your Registration Agreement are complete and accurate; (b) to your knowledge, the registration of the domain name will not infringe upon or otherwise violate the rights of any third party; (c) you are not registering the domain name for an unlawful purpose; and (d) you will not knowingly use the domain name in violation of any applicable laws or regulations. It is your responsibility to determine whether your domain name registration infringes or violates someone else's rights."

The last sentence is perhaps the most important part of this provision.   It is the applicant's responsibility and not the registrar's or Nominet's to ensure that the registration if the domain name will not infringe any other person's trade marks or other intellectual property rights.

Cancellations, Transfers and Changes
Paragraph 3 of the UDRP entitles the registrar to cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes to a domain name registration in any of the following circumstances:
(a)    the domain name holder or his or her agent asks the registrar to make such a change in writing,
(b)    a court or arbitrator of competent jurisdiction orders such a change,
(c)    such a change is ordered by a panellist in an administrative proceeding, or
(d)    in accordance with any other provision of the registration agreement

Administrative Proceedings
Paragraph 4 (a) of the UDRP provides:

"You are required to submit to a mandatory administrative proceeding in the event that a third party (a "complainant") asserts to the applicable Provider, in compliance with the Rules of Procedure, that

(i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and
(ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

In the administrative proceeding, the complainant must prove that each of these three elements are present."

Those proceedings are determined in writing by one or more panellists who are appointed by an accredited domain name dispute resolution service provider.  There is more information about domain name disputes in my article of 15 July 2017 in NIPC Branding,

Contact
Anyone wishing to discuss this article or domain names generally should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page.