[news release] Announced today, CO.NO is a new extension for Internet domain names that will open a brand new gateway to Norwegian enterprises and individuals for international  businesses. Starting in November 2010, companies and other interested parties will be able to give a Norwegian “flavour” to their Internet presence by using the “co.no” ending.

CoDNS B.V. is aiming at local and international users willing their Internet Addresses to end in “.no” but with an additional flexibility that existing options don’t offer.

“The co.no extension will be open to anyone, with no requirement of local presence or tie with Norway” confirms Sander Scholten, General Manager of CoDNS “Yet because openness does not mean ‘free for all’, we have taken several steps to ensure protection of third parties’ rights”.

Accordingly, a so-called “Sunrise Period” will be specifically dedicated to Trademark Holders to give them the opportunity to Register their brands as CO.NO names before the system is open to the general public. This Sunrise Period will benefit from the expertise of Deloitte. This firm will validate customers’ requests based on trademark registries.

Sunrise applications can be submitted directly to CoDNS by Accredited Registrars but they can also be submitted via the IP Clearing House system (www.ipclearinghouse.org) known from the .CO Sunrise.

Once Trademark holders have their trademarks validated in this system they will benefit from great cost reductions for future launching extensions.

Registration requests under the Norwegian TLD .NO are sometimes hard to fulfil due to the Registry regulations. Thanks to CO.NO, Registrars and their customers will now have the opportunity to display their Norwegian identity on the Internet in a much easier way.

Interested parties may visit www.domain.co.no for details.

This news release was dated 30 September.