T

he new .ASIA domain name space launched on October 9, 2007. As with many new domain name spaces, like last year's .EU launched in Europe, the .ASIA Registry provides a short window of time known as the "sunrise" period, for trademark owners to secure domain names matching their trademarks. .ASIA will use a three-tier sunrise period. The first, Sunrise 1, is only for governments. The second phase, for owners of registered trademarks only, is separated into three subparts, and the third is for owners of registered corporate names.

Opens 10/9/2007                                                           Limited to governments and municipalities

10/9/2007 - 10/30/2007                                                     Owners of registered trademarks, applied for on or before 3/16/2004, in any country. Evidence of current use of the mark for the listed goods or services must be provided upon request

11/9/2007 - 1/15/2008                                                     Owners of registered trademarks, applied for on or before 12/6/2006, in any country.                                                   Evidence of current use of the mark for the listed goods or services must be provided upon request

11/9/2007 - 1/15/2008                                                         

Any party qualified under Sunrise Period 2a or 2b can register domain names that contain its trademark plus generic or descriptive terms related to the products or services

11/9/2007 - 1/15/2008                                                     Domain names equivalent to registered corporate names                       Limited to any company, society, etc. that is in good standing and that registered its corporate name on or before 12/6/2006.

Trademark or corporate name registrations need not be in an "Asian" country; any country will suffice.                                                                  One listed contact (registrant, administrative, technical or billing) must be located in an Asian country.                                                                  If there are equally qualified applicants in any sunrise period (e.g. FORD motor company and FORD talent agency), the domain name is put up for a closed, English-style auction between the qualified applicants.

The expectation is that .ASIA domain names will be very popular and that there will be a rush to register these domain names. A unified Asian domain may become a valuable tool for brand owners that wish to reach an entire region with a single domain name registration, as opposed to registering and maintaining separate domain name registrations in each individual Asian country, which can be expensive and time consuming. In certain cases, brand owners may not be eligible to register domain names in certain .ASIA regions.

Brand owners are strongly encouraged to register their registered marks as domain names. Even if use of .ASIA domain names is not contemplated, brand owners should consider registering .ASIA domain names as a defensive measure against cybersquatters.