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Afilias alters .info registration policies
Thursday, December 06 2001
by Matthew Clark


Afilias, the Dublin-based company behind the .info domain, said it has changed
some of its policies to protect users' intellectual property. 

Earlier this year it was revealed that there were bogus registrations of Web
names under the new .info domain by cybersquatters using phony information. These
bogus registrations were done under the firm's "sunrise" registration period
that was designed to allow legal holders of certain trademarks to register the
sites before they were open to the public. It is expected that cybersquatters who
had improperly registered names had done so in order to sell the valuable Web
addresses to corporations at a later date for profit. 

All of this led to over 500 registered Web names being challenged in front of the
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and there is a potential for more
challenges until the 26 December closing date. 

Afilias said on Thursday that it had strengthened its sunrise policies and
challenge process to ensure the effectiveness of the registration system. "With
some strategic enhancements to our policies we believe we will be able to clear
the .info domain of sunrise registrations that were improperly submitted," the
company said. 

   

The company will now require anyone wanting to register a successfully challenged
sunrise name to produce proof of their valid trademark. This policy change, which
was posted two weeks ago and became effective on Thursday, was made in accordance
with Afilias' agreement with WIPO. 



Also, registrars will now have the ability to correct some "WHOIS" data and
request deletions of domain names. Afilias' initial sunrise policy required all
registrants who participated in the sunrise registration period to have a valid
trademark of national effect prior to 02 October 2000 and submit the
corresponding information at registration. Afilias said, as a tool to battle
cybersquatters who resell names quickly, it has locked these registrations for
180 days to both secure the data and ensure that no domains avoided scrutiny
under the subsequent challenge process.



In August Afilias said it would exercise its rights under the sunrise challenge
process and submit a bulk challenge against remaining sunrise names that appear
to be invalid.



Through the introduction of two new databases of registrant information, Afilias
said it will now have the ability to submit this bulk challenge by narrowing the
number of names that it will need to consider. Afilias will release a list of
names being considered prior to issuing its bulk challenge, but the company
offered no specific dates. 



Names that are successfully cancelled as a result of Afilias' bulk challenge, as
well as requested deletions and other names that may have been cancelled due to
challenge proceedings, will be returned to public availability in early 2002.



According to Roland LaPlante, chief marketing officer, the company has received
positive feedback on the new policies. He also told ElectricNews.Net that the
sunrise policy, which is the first of its kind in that no new top-level domain
names have been introduced in the last 15 years, was still considered to be the
best way to handle the protection of intellectual property.



LaPlante pointed out that there are a number of other domain names to launch in
the coming months, all of which are controlled by ICANN. The registration of
these sites will also be done through a sunrise program or other similar
programmes designed to protect intellectual. LaPlante went on to say that
generally the sunrise program was still viewed as a good process and Afilias has
been in constant communication with ICANN in  regard to its expertise with the
system.



Afilias has 20 employees with offices in Dublin and Philidelphia. It can be found
at http://www.afilias.info and WIPO is at
http://www.wipo.int.