DotAsia, the organization in charge of operating the .asia top-level domain (TLD), is asking registrars to comment on its proposals for handling the launch, which includes a plan to hold auctions for domain names where more than one applicant has applied for the name.
The documents include a draft outline of the registry's sunrise policies, a summary of the new TLD and the policy dealing with eligibility requirements.
To be eligible for a .asia domain, at least one of the domain contacts associated with the domain name must be a legal entity within the .asia community. The .asia domain will be open to the 73 country-code TLDs in the Asia/Australia/Pacific region as defined by ICANN.
The sunrise period for the launch is divided into three sections. The dates for this process have yet to be finalized, but sunrise one is planned to begin in July, and sunrise two and three will take place from September to December this year. Landrush is scheduled for February 2008.
Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia, emphasized that DotAsia wanted to avoid some of the problems associated with the launch of the .eu registry. He highlighted greater communication with registrars and allowing more electronic filing of documents as two key improvements.
The auction process is the most controversial change from the .eu process. During sunrise two and three, all applications received within the time limit will be deemed to have been made at the same time. If there are two or more verified applications for the same domain, DotAsia will hold an auction. Before the auction, companies will be allowed to find out who the other bidders are and can formulate a strategy accordingly.
Although it is still a draft, Chung indicated that significant changes to the document were unlikely. Speaking to INTA Daily News before the Annual Meeting, he claimed that recommendations so far had been "mainly minor tweaks," with some questions about how the auction will be conducted and how the verification agent will work. Chung also said that DotAsia "won't be penalizing minor clerical errors," after registrars had complained some .eu applications had been needlessly delayed.
The timetable
Pre-sunrise and sunrise one Governments and government-assigned bodies in the region can apply for and register domain names relevant to the respective government.
Sunrise two Owners of registered trademarks and service marks can apply in three stages. SR2a is for well-established marks applied for before March 16, 2004. The applicant will need to prove use of the mark in the class registered. SR2b is open for general registered marks applied for before December 6, 2006. SR2c allows applicants who have already applied to extend their protection by registering a domain including a relevant word in the class of the corresponding mark.
Sunrise three Organizations that are registered in the .asia area can apply for a domain name.
Landrush Anyone meeting the charter eligibility requirement can apply.
