On December 13 2009, the CNNIC, the regulator of the .cn TLD, issued an urgent notice. The gist of the notice was that beginning at 9am on December 14 2009, no individuals are qualified to register a domain name. A domain name applicant is also required to submit a copy of the business licence (or a business bar code certificate) to the domain name registrar.
Before this notice, a .cn TLD could be registered by an individual, even though the rules concerned (CNNIC Domain Name Registration Implementing Rules) clearly prescribe that only an organisation could do so. The Rules also require the applicant to provide the business licence number (or bar code number). For some reason, many domain names were still registered in the name of individuals.
What prompted the change was the growing number of individuals operating profit making websites carrying pornographic materials. Many school children were affected and this was most worrying. The authorities decided to clamp down. To this end, .cn TLD registered by individuals will be deregistered immediately, if they are found to be linked to pornographic websites.
Even though many .cn TLDs are registered and used by individual IP infringers, they are not the focus of the current purge. These domain names will only be deregistered if the owners fail to rectify the situation upon receipt of a warning notice from the CNNIC to do so. Nevertheless, if only a business concern may register a .cn TLD, this will still have a negative impact on infringers.
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| Howard Tsang |
Wilkinson & Grist
6/F, Prince's Building, 10 Chater Rd
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2524 6011
Fax: +852 2520 2090
iprop@wilgrist.com
www.wilgrist.com