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→‎Landrush: Explained how the landrush hijack worked. Update on Ovidio vs Eurid court order and the subsequent reactivation of the On Hold domains.. Link to court order included in references.
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[[Bob Parsons]], CEO and co-founder of Go Daddy, criticized the landrush process designed by EURid. Particularly, he condemned the use of shell companies by some registrars. In his blog, he stated ''"These companies, instead of only registering their real active registrars, created hundreds of new "phantom" registrars."''<ref name=landrush>{{cite web|url=http://www.bobparsons.com/EULandrushFiasco.html|title=The .EU landrush fiasco. A bumbling registry allows Europe's very own domain name to be highjacked!|last=Parsons|first=Bob|date=[[2006-04-09]]|accessdate=2006-06-26}}</ref> Parsons cited a group of about 400 companies, all with similar address and contact information based in New York, each registered as an [[Limited liability company|LLC]]; in his opinion, these were phantom registrars "created to hijack the .EU landrush."
[[Bob Parsons]], CEO and co-founder of Go Daddy, criticized the landrush process designed by EURid. Particularly, he condemned the use of shell companies by some registrars. In his blog, he stated ''"These companies, instead of only registering their real active registrars, created hundreds of new "phantom" registrars."''<ref name=landrush>{{cite web|url=http://www.bobparsons.com/EULandrushFiasco.html|title=The .EU landrush fiasco. A bumbling registry allows Europe's very own domain name to be highjacked!|last=Parsons|first=Bob|date=[[2006-04-09]]|accessdate=2006-06-26}}</ref> Parsons cited a group of about 400 companies, all with similar address and contact information based in New York, each registered as an [[Limited liability company|LLC]]; in his opinion, these were phantom registrars "created to hijack the .EU landrush."

These "phantom" registrars effectively had hundreds of opportunities of registering a domain whereas a genuine registrar effectively only had one opportunity to register the same domain. Thus some registrants were crowded out of the .eu landrush process and many generic .eu domain names are now owned by the companies using these "phantom" registrars.


Patrik Lindén, spokeman for EURid, denied the allegations by Parsons, stating that "[EURid] verified that each registrar was an individual legal entity. Each had to sign an agreement with us, and prepay 10,000 euros."<ref name=refutation>{{cite web|url=http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/185300338|title=New .EU Domain Name System Irks U.S. Firm|last=Keizer|first=Gregg|publisher=TechWeb Technology News|date=[[2006-04-11]]|accessdate=2006-06-26}}</ref> Parsons didn't dispute that each registrar was a separate legal entity, but noted that creating such entities was trivial: "Mr. Linden seemed proud that the EURid registry verified that each applicant was a legal entity before it was accredited. Take a moment and think about what that means. You can form a “legal entity” for $50 – an LLC – and you are good to go. Is that what we want a registry to do? Don’t we want them instead to make sure that the organization it allows to provide end-users with its domain names – especially Europe’s very own domain name – are actually in the domain name registration business?"<ref name=entity>{{cite web|url=http://www.bobparsons.com/EURidResponds.html|title=EURid denies .EU landrush abuse. These guys couldn't spin a top.|last=Parsons|first=Bob|date=[[2006-04-12]]|accessdate=2006-06-26}}</ref>
Patrik Lindén, spokeman for EURid, denied the allegations by Parsons, stating that "[EURid] verified that each registrar was an individual legal entity. Each had to sign an agreement with us, and prepay 10,000 euros."<ref name=refutation>{{cite web|url=http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/185300338|title=New .EU Domain Name System Irks U.S. Firm|last=Keizer|first=Gregg|publisher=TechWeb Technology News|date=[[2006-04-11]]|accessdate=2006-06-26}}</ref> Parsons didn't dispute that each registrar was a separate legal entity, but noted that creating such entities was trivial: "Mr. Linden seemed proud that the EURid registry verified that each applicant was a legal entity before it was accredited. Take a moment and think about what that means. You can form a “legal entity” for $50 – an LLC – and you are good to go. Is that what we want a registry to do? Don’t we want them instead to make sure that the organization it allows to provide end-users with its domain names – especially Europe’s very own domain name – are actually in the domain name registration business?"<ref name=entity>{{cite web|url=http://www.bobparsons.com/EURidResponds.html|title=EURid denies .EU landrush abuse. These guys couldn't spin a top.|last=Parsons|first=Bob|date=[[2006-04-12]]|accessdate=2006-06-26}}</ref>


The EURid organisation investigated allegations of abuse, and in [[July 2006]] announced the suspension of 74,000 domain names and that they were suing 400 registrars for breach of contract.<ref>http://www.eurid.eu/en/general/news/eurid-suspends-74-000-eu-domain-names-due-to-breach-of-contract News item from EURid announcing suspension of domain names and intention to sue domain name registrars. Retrieved on 26 July 2006.</ref> The action relates to the practice of 'warehousing', whereby domain names are registered with the intention of subsequently selling them on to third parties. EURid rules state that applications for domains can only be made after a legitimate application has been made to a registrar. The 74,000 applications were made in the name of only three companies&mdash;Ovidio Ltd, Fausto Ltd and Gabino Ltd.
The EURid organisation investigated allegations of abuse, and in [[July 2006]] announced the suspension of 74,000 domain names and that they were suing 400 registrars for breach of contract.<ref>http://www.eurid.eu/en/general/news/eurid-suspends-74-000-eu-domain-names-due-to-breach-of-contract News item from EURid announcing suspension of domain names and intention to sue domain name registrars. Retrieved on 26 July 2006.</ref> The action relates to the practice of warehousing, whereby domain names are registered with the intention of subsequently selling them on to third parties. EURid rules state that applications for domains can only be made after a legitimate application has been made to a registrar. The 74,000 applications were made in the name of only three companies&mdash;Ovidio Ltd, Fausto Ltd and Gabino Ltd.

The affected registrars, joined in the action by the affected registrants obtained a provisional order from the Court of First Instance in Brussels, Belgium on 27 September 2006. The court ordered EURid to release the blocked domain names or else pay a fine of 25000 EURO per hour for each affected domain name. EURid complied with the court order and changed the status of the domains from ON HOLD to ACTIVE and restored EURid registration database access to the affected registrars.

The main legal action, that of EURid seeking the registrar agreements between EURid and the registrars in question to be dissolved has still to be heard.


==Use by the European Union institutions==
==Use by the European Union institutions==

Revision as of 20:38, 17 December 2006

.eu
.eu
Introduced2005
TLD typeCountry code top-level domain
StatusActive
RegistryEURid
SponsorEuropean Commission
Intended useEntities connected with the European Union
Actual useBecoming popular within the EU
Registration restrictionsRegistrants must be located within the EU
StructureNames are registered directly at second level
DocumentsCommission Regulation (EC) No. 874/2004
Dispute policiesIs similar to UDRP
Registry websiteEURid

.eu is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the European Union, and organisations and citizens of EU member states, which was launched on December 7, 2005. Trademark owners were able to submit registrations through a sunrise process (similar to the launch of .info), in an effort to prevent cybersquatting. Full registration started on April 7, 2006.

The TLD is administered by EURid, a consortium consisting of the local ccTLD registry operators of Belgium, Czech Republic, Sweden and Italy.

Establishment and Sunrise period

The .eu TLD was approved by ICANN on March 22, 2005[1] and put in the Internet root zone on May 2, 2005.[2] Even though the EU is not a country (it is an intergovernmental and supranational organisation), there are precedents of issuing top-level domains to other entities—e.g. .nato

Registrants with prior rights (trademarks, geographic names, company names...) could apply during the Sunrise Period. The registration needed to be accompanied by documents proving the claim to ownership of a certain name. The decision was then made by PricewaterhouseCoopers Belgium, which had been chosen as the validation agent by EURid. Most companies were able to register their trademarks due to this process.

On February 7 2006, the registry was opened for company and trade names. In the first 15 minutes, there were 27,949 total applications, and after one hour, 71,235.

Landrush

On April 7, 2006 at 11 am CET registration became possible for non-trademark holders. Most people requesting domains had asked their registrars to put their requested domains in a queue, ensuring the best chance to register a domain. This way more than 700,000 domains were registered during the first 4 hours of operation. Some large registrars like Go Daddy and Dotster suffered from long queues and unresponsiveness, allowing people to 'beat the queue' by registering through a registrar that had already processed its queue. As of July 2006 more than 2 million .eu domain names were registered. It is now the third largest domain in Europe, after .de and .uk, and is the seventh largest internationally, catching up fast on .info.

Bob Parsons, CEO and co-founder of Go Daddy, criticized the landrush process designed by EURid. Particularly, he condemned the use of shell companies by some registrars. In his blog, he stated "These companies, instead of only registering their real active registrars, created hundreds of new "phantom" registrars."[3] Parsons cited a group of about 400 companies, all with similar address and contact information based in New York, each registered as an LLC; in his opinion, these were phantom registrars "created to hijack the .EU landrush."

These "phantom" registrars effectively had hundreds of opportunities of registering a domain whereas a genuine registrar effectively only had one opportunity to register the same domain. Thus some registrants were crowded out of the .eu landrush process and many generic .eu domain names are now owned by the companies using these "phantom" registrars.

Patrik Lindén, spokeman for EURid, denied the allegations by Parsons, stating that "[EURid] verified that each registrar was an individual legal entity. Each had to sign an agreement with us, and prepay 10,000 euros."[4] Parsons didn't dispute that each registrar was a separate legal entity, but noted that creating such entities was trivial: "Mr. Linden seemed proud that the EURid registry verified that each applicant was a legal entity before it was accredited. Take a moment and think about what that means. You can form a “legal entity” for $50 – an LLC – and you are good to go. Is that what we want a registry to do? Don’t we want them instead to make sure that the organization it allows to provide end-users with its domain names – especially Europe’s very own domain name – are actually in the domain name registration business?"[5]

The EURid organisation investigated some allegations of abuse, and in July 2006 announced the suspension of over 74,000 domain names and that they were suing 400 registrars for breach of contract.[6] The status of the domains was changed from ACTIVE to ON-HOLD. This meant that the domains could not be moved or have their ownership changed. The registrars also lost their access to the EURid registration database meaning that they could no longer register .eu domain names. The legal action relates to the practice of Domain name warehousing, whereby large numbers of domain names are registered, often by registrars, with the intention of subsequently selling them on to third parties. EURid rules state that applications for domains can only be made after a legitimate application has been made to a registrar. The 74,000 applications were made in the name of only three Cyprus registered companies— Ovidio Ltd, Fausto Ltd and Gabino Ltd.

The affected registrars, joined in the action by the affected registrants obtained a provisional order from the Court of First Instance in Brussels, Belgium on 27 September 2006. The court ordered EURid to release the blocked domain names or else pay a fine of 25000 EURO per hour for each affected domain name. EURid complied with the court order and changed the status of the domains from ON HOLD to ACTIVE and restored EURid registration database access to the affected registrars.

The main legal action, that of EURid seeking the registrar agreements between EURid and the registrars in question to be dissolved has still to be heard.

Use by the European Union institutions

The second-level domain .europa.eu has been reserved for EU institution sites, with most institutions making the switch from .eu.int to using .europa.eu domains on Europe day, 9 May 2006. Others such as the European Central Bank have switched to .eu.

References

  1. ^ "ICANN board approves agreement with EURid". EURid. 2005-03-21. Retrieved 2006-06-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Check out our domain name: .eu is now in the internet root". EURid. 2005-05-02. Retrieved 2006-06-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Parsons, Bob (2006-04-09). "The .EU landrush fiasco. A bumbling registry allows Europe's very own domain name to be highjacked!". Retrieved 2006-06-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Keizer, Gregg (2006-04-11). "New .EU Domain Name System Irks U.S. Firm". TechWeb Technology News. Retrieved 2006-06-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Parsons, Bob (2006-04-12). "EURid denies .EU landrush abuse. These guys couldn't spin a top". Retrieved 2006-06-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ http://www.eurid.eu/en/general/news/eurid-suspends-74-000-eu-domain-names-due-to-breach-of-contract News item from EURid announcing suspension of domain names and intention to sue domain name registrars. Retrieved on 26 July 2006.
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