Is your coporate image/brand image at risk as .ASIA domains open to public registration today? You bet it is!
If you own a trademark or registered brand that could be tarnished by someone else registering your brand’s .asia domain and then putting damaging information on that web site, you definitely should consider registering your .asia domains.
In a recent report, EuroDNS, one of the largest .Asia registrars in Europe, pointed out that UK brands have been slower than their US and German counterparts to register for the new .asia domain name. In the four months since October, British brands have signed up to prevent their .asia domain names falling into competitor or cybersquatter hands and were given first opportunity to register their trademarks.
Only 30,780 applications have been filed for .asia domain names so far compared with 330,000 at the same point in the launch of the .eu domain name on 7 April 2006, meaning the majority of businesses are at high risk of losing their trademarks online once the landrush period opens to the general public.
British businesses have lagged behind their American and German counterparts in the applications filed so far with just over 2,000 compared with the 30,000 they filed prior to the .eu landrush.
The alarm bells should be ringing for any company which has yet to secure its trademarks in .asia. As of today, there’s far less protection for companies’ trademarks and it’s open season on the .asia domain name for cybersquatters, online speculators and competitors.
The demand for .asia has been understated, which simply means that many businesses are likely to miss out. As the first .asia web sites go live we’re sure to see a number of high-profile, costly disputes which could so easily have been avoided.
Source: Chief Editor writing for DomainNews.com – February19th, 2008
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