The new .asia Top-Level Domain (TLD) opens on October 9, 2007 to trademark holders for an early domain name registration period.

The .asia TLD is the Asian market’s equivalent to the familiar .com TLD. This early registration period is unique and will not be offered again. It represents a significant opportunity for trademark holders to promote their business in Asia and prevent the loss of desirable domain names to cybersquatters.

Registration of .asia TLDs will occur in a series of three sunrise periods, followed by open registration to any applicant on a first-come, first-served basis. The first sunrise period will be open only to governments and governmental entities in the .asia community. The second sunrise period will be open to registered trademark holders and the third sunrise period will allow the registration of business names. Applications submitted during these sunrise periods must include documentation to support ownership claims in requested domain names.

Of particular interest to trademark owners, the second sunrise period will occur in three phases. Initially, there will be an early bird phase running from October 9 - 30, 2007. Running concurrently from November 13, 2007 - January 15, 2008, there will also be a general registered trademark phase and an extended protection phase.

To qualify for the early bird period, a trademark owner must have applied to register its mark on or before March 16, 2004 and must be able to demonstrate continuous use of the registered mark. To qualify for the general period, a trademark owner must have applied to register its mark on or before December 6, 2006, but no evidence of use must be provided. The extended protection period allows trademark owners who qualify for the first or second phases to apply for domain names that combine a registered mark with other terms.

To illustrate how the second sunrise period phases work, assume the fictional ABC company owns a registration for the mark “ABC” in connection with clothing. The company could apply to register the domain name abc.asia in either phase one or two, depending on when the company applied to register its mark. The company could also apply to register the domain name abcclothing.asia during the extended protection phase.

Notably, unlike the previous .eu sunrise period in which domain name registrations were awarded on a first-to-apply basis, .asia TLDs requested by multiple applicants will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Including an auction feature as part of the sunrise period is intended to keep cybersquatters out of the early registration periods and should give trademark holders a fair shot at obtaining .asia TLDs.

For more information about the .asia sunrise periods or for assistance in registration of .asia TLDs, please contact:

David C. Gryce
202.775.5797
gryce.david@arentfox.com

Halle B. Markus
202.857.6113
markus.halle@arentfox.com