Afilias, the registry for .info domain names, today announced
plans for a public redistribution of over 10,000 names that it
seized from those registering under false pretences. The names will
be distributed to applicants at random.
When the .info names were first offered, trade mark owners were
given the right to register their trade marks as .info names before
the general public. However, no checks were in place to ensure that
only legitimate trade mark owners were applying for the names.
Accordingly, several thousand names were registered by individuals
submitting false trade mark ownership information.
Afilias will redistribute the generic names using a randomised,
round-robin name selection method. Those wanting a name can apply
to one of several registrars. Each registrar submits batches of
applications to Afilias which then assigns a random order to pick
names from each of the registrars' batches.
Registrars will be allowed to submit batches of name requests
over a three week period beginning in the late spring of 2002. To
date, around 750,000 .info names have been registered.
