.UK to go ahead according to BBC

[Edwin]

Why bother with that cut off date? Affects drops from then till Feb 2014.

No, it affects drops from then until February 2019.

If there was no cutoff date, but only the ".co.uk wins" rule, then in theory you could come along in say July 2015 and register a .co.uk if the .org.uk is slow off the mark/hasn't heard what's going on, and then instantly snatch the .uk from under their nose.

Setting a line in the sand prior to any information being published about the final release mechanism prevents gaming the system in that way.

 

[monaghan]

If I had to guess I would assume it means that any competing owners have the same 5 year timeframe to register their INTEREST in acquiring the domain.

Then if the 5 year deadline passes and the first in line didn't take the domain name, then the second in line (I wonder who will get to go second if there are 3+ competing registrations) would then get the domain that day. In other words, there would be a day 5 years from the launch of .uk when all competing claims in which the .uk remains unregistered all get sorted out at once.

ALL THE ABOVE IS CONJECTURE. I'm sure Nominet will put out the actual process before long (or it may already be buried in one of the dozens of documents).

Will be interesting to see how this is implemented in the EPP and common registrar domain registration modules!

 

[foz]

No, it affects drops from then until February 2019.

If there was no cutoff date, but only the ".co.uk wins" rule, then in theory you could come along in say July 2015 and register a .co.uk if the .org.uk is slow off the mark/hasn't heard what's going on, and then instantly snatch the .uk from under their nose.

Setting a line in the sand prior to any information being published about the final release mechanism prevents gaming the system in that way.

Understand, but theoretically all the cream has gone years ago and only the drops will be affected.

 

[anthony]

So very good .co.uk domains that drop from after 28th October 2013 onwards will have no rights over .org.uk domains that pre-date the cut off.

A crumb of comfort for such .org.uk owners then, at least that's how i read it!

 

[websaway]

If you were to register a .co.uk today but the .org.uk already existed, will the .co.uk still qualify for the .uk?

apparently not.

 

[max_rk]

As regards the risk of confusion from there being different holders of equivalent second and third level terms, Nominet rejects the argument that this cost is of itself a reason not to proceed to introduce SLDR. It is already the case that end-users have to navigate their way through a complex environment ...

This argument will go long way to defend DRS cases where .co.uk and .uk is involved.

Max Karpis

 

[aZooZa]

I think it's excellent news from Nominet - dispels uncertainty immediately and gets the market back on track again. No onerous or radical changes for the self-managed TAGs will be a relief to many. So it's a pat on the back from me; just wish the board hadn't muddied the water somewhat by keeping us in the dark for so long after the board meeting.

Onwards and upwards.

 

[crc]

Immense relief!

When I finally got this dreaded and much awaited email at 12.15 and read the title "Nominet ushers in new era for .uk names" my stomach sank and I went cold. :shock: I was sure of the worse and scared to read on, but then the relief on reading it a second time was immense! (couldn't take it in the first time!). After all the worry of the last year especially the last few weeks - I have not lost my livelihood and what I have built for the last 13 years!

The best possible result with it actually going ahead, other perhaps than an automatic ..uk .co.uk pairing and better than I could have possibly imagined.

For the business just a small additional outlay in terms of registration costs, which may hopefully be more than compensated by other benefits going forward. Still will have to wait and see if effected by any of the reserved names issue, but impact will only be relatively small.

Thanks to all of you out there who made such brilliant contributions to this cause and those who submitted such excellent consultation responses. This outcome has been won by you. - I love you all right now!

The pub is calling!

 

[max_rk]

there is no mention of me.uk being in line. is there?

 

[anthony]

there is no mention of me.uk being in line. is there?

It's the runt of the family, they don't wish to talk about it!

 

[Edwin]

there is no mention of me.uk being in line. is there?

Looks like it. It's not in the short press release, nor is it in the introduction, nor the Q&A.

Hopefully somebody will be able to get a definitive ruling from Nominet and update us at some point, but right now it looks like .me.uk is out of the running and it's a pure two horse race (.co.uk vs .org.uk)

 

[Whois-Search]

Looks like the Top 10 registrars are already selling it:

http://news.domainmonster.com/direct-uk-registrations-summer-2014/

http://www.domainbox.com/news/short-uk-domain-name-launch/

http://blog.names.co.uk/2013/11/nominet-say-yes-can-name-uk/

They must have known before the rest of us....

 

[Edwin]

Hang on. I think I need to contradict myself!

From this document http://www.nominet.org.uk/how-participate/policy-development/IntroducingSecondLevelDomains/qanda

Who exactly will be offered the shorter .uk domain?

Anyone can register a new .uk domain from launch.

However, we want to look after our existing customers, so holders of the following domains will be offered the shorter .uk equivalent of their current domain (provided they maintain their current registration until they take up the .uk):

All domains that were current on 28th October 2013 where there was no other corresponding third level domain registered.
Where there are two or more domains with the same string:
the .co.uk will be offered the .uk equivalent, and
where there is no .co.uk, the .org.uk will be offered the .uk equivalent.
All .co.uk domains registered after 28th October 2013 and before the new domains are launched (as long as there is no ‘clash’ with any domains meeting the criteria above).

So it sounds like the order may be:
1) .co.uk
2) .org.uk
3) any other extension with rights

However, this is also very interesting:

If there is a clash, and the domain registrant with the rights to the .uk domain doesn’t want it (or if their domain registration drops) is the other registrant offered ‘second choice’ before the domain goes on the open market?

No. There is no ‘second choice’ mechanism.

So (contradicting what I posted about 30 minutes ago - sorry) it sounds like it's completely pointless to be second in line, because that gives you no rights at all.

In other words, if there's a .co.uk that qualifies, then the .org.uk will NEVER be in line to beat general availability even if the .co.uk owner runs down the clock.

There's going to be the mother of all drop catching sessions 5 years from launch, that's for sure!

There will also be an interesting drop opportunity within the 5 year launch window because IF the first in line domain drops, then a strict reading of the above suggests the .uk will become available to register first come, first served as soon as the dropped domain is no longer blocking it.

 

[Edwin]

Looks like the Top 10 registrars are already selling it:

http://news.domainmonster.com/direct-uk-registrations-summer-2014/

http://www.domainbox.com/news/short-uk-domain-name-launch/

http://blog.names.co.uk/2013/11/nominet-say-yes-can-name-uk/

They must have known before the rest of us....

As long as they didn't have even a whiff of the decision prior to the 28 October 2013 cutoff date (which is unlikely, given that it hadn't even been taken then!) it shouldn't be a huge deal even if Nominet gave them a bit of a heads up since there was literally nothing they could do with that knowledge to manoever into a better position to secure the right .uk domains. Annoying, yes. Commercially significant, no. And that's only IF they even got advance notice - it doesn't take very long to blog a few paragraphs regurgitating facts from a press release and a BBC news story.

 

[Edwin]

I keep reading this page again and again and confusing myself.
http://www.nominet.org.uk/how-participate/policy-development/IntroducingSecondLevelDomains/qanda

It's not that it's particularly badly written, but it's having to handle so many edge cases (re. who gets what, especially between 28 October 2013 and launch) that I get lost.

Hopefully Nominet will follow up with some simple examples/diagrams, like the ones that the NZ nic put together to explain their contention resolution process for .nz vs existing NZ namespace extensions.

 

[AssetDomains]

There's going to be the mother of all drop catching sessions 5 years from launch, that's for sure!

There will also be an interesting drop opportunity within the 5 year launch window because IF the first in line domain drops, then a strict reading of the above suggests the .uk will become available to register first come, first served as soon as the dropped domain is no longer blocking it.

This is going to be quite interesting if I'm reading it right then any co.uk that drops between now and the launch that doesn't have an .org.uk already the .uk should become available the day of launch.

I suppose most of the valuable names will already have a .org.uk but interesting to see what happens

 

[max_rk]

This is only my opinion.

So avenue of misuse by some of domain like exampleco.uk has been opened. Calculator and Company Limited has registered a lot of exampleco.co.uk and stand in line to get their exampleco.uk. New wave of DRS to come.

http://www.nominet.org.uk/whois/lookup?query=orangeco.co.uk

This is only my opinion.

Max Karpis

 

[Edwin]

So avenue of misuse by some of domain like exampleco.uk has been opened. Calculator and Company Limited has registered a lot of exampleco.co.uk and stand in line to get their exampleco.uk. New wave of DRS to come.

http://www.nominet.org.uk/whois/lookup?query=orangeco.co.uk

Max Karpis

Good thing is, unlike UDRP, DRS has "3 strikes" rule and after that it's a virtually automatic loss.

 

[Lovekraft]

Can anyone see if they have clarified how they plan to proceed with the 1 and 2 letter domains? Are they still considering a special rule for these? Even though as it stands the current proposals would be the best outcome for them anyway.

 

[Edwin]

Can anyone see if they have clarified how they plan to proceed with the 1 and 2 letter domains? Are they still considering a special rule for these? Even though as it stands the current proposals would be the best outcome for them anyway.

Looks like they're in the same boat as all other domains, but the release mechanism neatly solves the problem without having to write in a special "exception".