Afilias, the registry for all domain names ending .info, has
announced “Land Rush 2,” its second attempt at the distribution of
certain names that were initially registered dishonestly – arguably
because the nature of the registration system invited abuse.
Dublin-based Afilias ran a Sunrise Period during which
registered trade mark holders could register .info names matching
their trade marks, before the names became available to the general
public. However, the system did not check the trade mark
information supplied. Accordingly, generic words that would not be
eligible for trade marks were taken by opportunist registrants.
Registrations not meeting the Sunrise Period criteria – 17,000 in
all – have now been cancelled.
Afilias expects to begin the new submission process in June of
2002 and award the names in mid-July 2002. Registrants should apply
for the names through their registrar of choice. Each participating
registrar will then send the requests to Afilias in the form of a
queue (or batch of names). Each registrar's queue will be processed
utilising a randomised, round-robin name selection method employed
during .info’s initial launch.
Among the names being offered are film.info, accounting.info,
travel-agent.info and sexclub.info.
More details can be found at www.afilias.info.
