ICANN is actively seeking a location for its 44th meeting to be held 24-29 June 2012 in Europe. Those in the geographic region are invited to submit recommendations for specific locations to hold the event. These recommended venues, along with others in the region that meet the selection criteria, will be considered. The final location for the ICANN Meeting will then be selected through the evaluation of both community-recommended and ICANN-identified locations. Continue reading Location Recommendations Now Being Accepted for ICANN's 2012 Meeting in Europe
Tag Archives: Europe
Two-thirds .EU registrants choose registrar in their own country
EURid has taken a closer look at the distribution of .EU registrations among its registrars and has found that 65 per cent of domain name registrants chose a registrar from their own country, 18 per cent chose a registrar from a different country in the European Union, and 17 per cent chose a registrar located outside the EU according to a news release released this week.
Registrants in Germany, Poland and Lithuania were the ones most likely to use a national registrar.
In the European Union, registrars in Cyprus, Denmark and Luxembourg were the ones with the largest share of their business originating from outside the country. Reciprocal cross-border registrant-registrar pairings (meaning that many registrants from âcountry xâ chose a registrar in âcountry yâ and vice-versa) were noted in the cases of Belgium/France, Germany/Austria, Germany/Denmark, The Netherlands/Belgium, Germany/United Kingdom, Germany/France and Denmark/Sweden.
As for registrars based outside of the European Union, Indian registrars held 60% of the Bulgarian .EU registration market, while registrars in the US held 34% of the Portuguese market.
To register your .EU domain name, check out Europe Registry here.
Europe Secures Its Online Identity With .EU
Benefits of having a .EU domain name were the focus of a dinner held in Brussels last week with five European companies explaining how the .eu domain has helped them develop their image and create new business opportunities in front of an audience that included Neelie Kroes, the European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda.In her speech, Ms Kroes commented on the importance of .EU in forging a European online presence, particularly for small businesses. “With more than 3.2 million registrations to date, .EU shows there is a real appetite for a European identity on the web. And that we need to continue developing it – even more so, perhaps, at a time of economic recovery – as a success story of our European project”.European businesses that demonstrated the benefits of a .EU domain were Blacknight (Ireland), Dinamo Riga (Latvia), DMC Group (Germany), Kenlube (Slovakia) and Zazou (Netherlands). The companies explained to MEPs and guests, through a series of videos, why having a .EU domain name makes marketing and financial sense.The importance of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to Europe’s prosperity and their importance in helping the EU achieve its goals of speeding up economic recovery and increasing competitiveness was discussed at the meeting. In order to position themselves in the market and thrive, European SMEs must have an efficient web strategy, which means choosing a domain name that can be leveraged to promote their goods and services.EURid, the European Registry of Internet Domain Names, manages the .eu Internet domain under contract with the European Commission. EURid General Manager Marc van Wesemael stated: “The open borders within the European Union and the growth in online commerce have created enormous opportunities, particularly for SMEs. We are proud to manage .EU which has become a trusted and valued top-level domain name for small firms.”Dinner host, Malcolm Harbour, MEP, Chairman of the Internal Market Committee of the European Parliament, added: “The European Parliament is happy to support the European online identity .EU and has been greatly involved in the project from the very beginning. European businesses and especially SMEs recognise the value of using an established, well-managed and secure top-level domain. Sharing such best practices can only help the Internet grow in terms of both safety and quality for future generations.”In her keynote speech, Kroes also mentioned how it is important for .EU to reflect Europe, and that the recent addition of internationalised .EU domain names was part of this.”For European individuals too, ‘.EU’ provides an opportunity to express their European identity,” said Ms Kroes.”I am proud that EURid has already incorporated Internationalised Domain Names (IDN) under the ‘.EU’ level. It is indeed crucial that Europeans be able to create and access websites named in their own alphabet – i.e. not only in Latin script. This is obviously of most interest to users of Greek and Cyrillic script, but it also includes for example the use in German of the Umlaut. You would be surprised to see how much people – here and indeed on every continent – feel alienated by not being able to use all features of their language and culture on the internet. It is therefore highly symbolic that we make this sign of openness available also at the ‘.EU’ level itself. And I will raise this point with ICANN when I meet them later this month.”So ‘.EU’ must reflect our identity, including our cultural and linguistic diversity. Yet to be attractive, it must equally be a safe and secure domain name.”To read Ms Kroes’ speech in full, see europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/283.To register your .EU domain name, check out Europe Registry here.
European Court Sets Criteria for Domain Registration
The European Court of Justice established broad new criteria for rejecting abusive .EU domain name registrations, according to a report in the Courthouse News Service.
The case centred around the Austrian company Internetportal und Marketing GmbH that, according to the report, âabused the system for registering .EU domain names by exploiting a clause on special characters.â
The company registered â33 generic trademarks in Sweden, all with the â&â symbol between each letterâ to take advantage of European law that âallows for use of registered marks without special symbols on the Web.â
This allowed the company to register a range of domain names prior to the general registration phase and the company subsequently registered 180 generic domain names.
Internetportalâs use of the domains was challenged in the Austrian courts who revoked Internetportalâs claim to certain trademarks.
To read more on the case from the Courthouse News Service, see:
www.courthousenews.com/2010/06/04/27842.htm
Domain name market research shows majority of Europeans know and trust .EU
[news release] 81% of Europeans know what a domain name is and more than half have heard of .eu, according to the results of new market research. In addition, .eu is perceived as being innovative and trustworthy when compared to other top-level domains (TLDs). These findings were published today as part of a brand and adoption study commissioned by EURid, the registry of the .eu top-level domain.
Further findings show that:
- 17% of Europeans have a domain name, while 15% plan to register a domain name within the next year.
- Of that 15%, a quarter would prefer to register a .eu domain name.
The study, conducted by independent research agency Insites Consulting, ran between December 2009 and January 2010. It aimed to explore the characteristics of .eu as a brand, determine the degree to which the European Internet population is aware of domain names in general, and .eu in particular, and gain insight into the European domain name and Internet markets.
Data was gathered via an email survey across all 27 EU Member States and online discussion groups in Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
For more findings, you can read summaries of the branding and adoption study.
This news release was sourced from:
www.eurid.eu/en/content/new-domain-name-market-research-available
European Union Gets Serious on Cybercrime Including Right to Revoke Domain Names
The Council of the European Union has proposed the establishment of a European centre be established to combat cybercrime that would include the right to revoke domain names and IP addresses, according to a statement from a Council meeting on April 26.The Action Plan says it “considers that is of a paramount importance to propose actions which would specify how the main points of the concerted strategy to combat cybercrime should be implemented, both in the short and medium term.”The meeting statement proposed the European Commission draw up a feasibility study on the possibility of creating a centre that would deal with cybercrime including crime related to the invasion of privacy, financial cybercrime, unauthorized access for the purpose of sabotage, crime against intellectual property, attacks on networks and against information systems, on-line fraud, child pornography and spam, and trafficking in illicit substances.The meeting statement noted as one of those medium term actions “to adopt a common approach in the fight against cybercrime internationally, particularly in relation to the revocation of Domain Names and IP addresses. The Commission, in cooperation with the Member States and Europol, is invited to facilitate this objective.”Among short term plans the meeting statement noted it has to find out more about the perpetrators of cybercrime and their modus operandi, to share knowledge within the EU to better understand the problem.Among the medium term plans were to ratify the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, consider raising the standards of specialization of the police, judges, prosecutors and forensic staff to an appropriate level to carry out cybercrime investigations, to encourage information sharing among member states and to adopt a common approach in the fight against cybercrime internationally.The Council statement from the meeting is available from:
www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/jha/114028.pdf
DomainSponsor Expands DOMAINfest to Europe
Early October event in Prague will focus on networking, building European business interest in online real estate–
[news release] DomainSponsor®, the domain monetization business unit of Oversee.net® and organizer of the DOMAINfest® series of conferences, said today that it will expand the highly regarded franchise into Europe with a conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
The two-day event will be held Wednesday and Thursday, October 6 and 7, 2010 at the landmark Hotel Intercontinental located in the heart of one of Europeâs most beautiful cities. Building on the success of last monthâs event in Santa Monica, California, the October meeting will continue DOMAINfestâs focus on increasing the value of Internet real estate and will offer a rich setting for extensive networking involving topics relevant not only to domain investors from Europe, but also from around the world.
Subject-matter experts will be invited to facilitate the networking sessions on Wednesday, October 6th. The first day will also include a Moniker® Premium Domain Name Auction powered by SnapNames LiveTM technology. Day 2 will be focused on social activities in and around Prague designed to provide the kind of shared experiences that can contribute to the building of long-term relationships between DOMAINfest Europe attendees. Conference details, including the agenda and speakers, will be released in June, 2010.
âDOMAINfest Europe is an excellent opportunity for European publishers, online marketers, and domain-related service providers to meet and discuss ways to increase the value of domain names, which we like to refer to as Internet real estate, â said Peter Celeste, Senior Vice President of Oversee.net and General Manger, Monetization Services. âThe DomainSponsor team looks forward to becoming more engaged with the European domain investor community, and this forum is the perfect venue to exchange ideas and build relationships. As with all DOMAINfest events, we will be offering affordable registration rates to encourage maximum participation from a wide range of talented professionals from both inside and outside our industry.â
In January, 2010, DomainSponsor hosted a highly successful DOMAINfest Global® conference in Santa Monica, California that attracted more than 600 professionals from a variety of internet-related industries. The conference included a variety of sessions over a three day period, including a keynote fireside chat with Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. This recent DOMAINfest conference also featured a first-ever PITCHfest contest, structured networking sessions, and moderated general sessions with experts from the world of investment, advertising, and marketing. Videos of each session, including the keynote fireside chat, can be viewed at www.domainfest.com.
In November 2009, DomainSponsor announced the establishment of its European head office in Frankfurt, Germany with Joerg Schnermann as General Manager.
Moniker® Auction
Moniker will host a live premium domain name auction on Wednesday, October 6 followed by an extended online-only auction from October 7 to October 14. Specific start and end times for each auction event will be announced June 1, 2010. The live auction offers real-time online viewing and bidding from anywhere in the world via a free software download. Details on how to bid in-person or remotely in any Moniker live auction can be found at domainauctions.moniker.com.
Registration and Sponsorship Opportunities Registration for DOMAINfest Europe will be open June 1, 2010. The early bird registration rate will be US$395 until July 1st. A discounted rate of US$495 will then be available until September 1st, at which point the price increases to US$595. Companies interested in sponsorship opportunities can contact sales@domainfest.com .
About DOMAINfest®
Founded and hosted by DomainSponsor®, the domain monetization division of Oversee.net, the DOMAINfest® conference brings domain industry and Internet professionals together to learn, network, and do business. Attendees include online advertising experts, domain publishers, domain monetization experts, SEO and SEM specialists, website developers, online marketers, ad or affiliate network suppliers, search advertising providers, venture capitalists, bankers and trademark/legal advisors. Visit www.domainfest.com for more information.
About Oversee.net
Oversee.net® is the leader in Internet real estate, specializing in monetizing, registering, selling and developing domain names. The company provides an array of managed services to domain investors, corporations, and individuals across more than ten million web sites. Oversee owns one of the largest portfolios of domain names in the world. The companyâs unique optimized technology connects consumers and advertisers with highly relevant advertisements. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the companyâs core brands include DomainSponsor®, SnapNames®, Moniker® and LowFares.comTM. To learn more, please visit www.oversee.net.
DomainSponsor to Establish European Operations
DomainSponsor unveiled plans to establish a European office in Frankfurt, Germany, appointing Joerg Schnermann as General Manager, DomainSponsor Europe. Joerg was previously Chief Operating Officer at KeywordDomains.com. Joe Higgins and Jessica Bessling are other appointees to join the team in Europe.
A news release on the announcement is below:
DomainSponsor Unveils Plans to Establish European Operations
–Team of Experienced Domain Monetization Executives Join Initiativeâ
DomainSponsor®, the domain monetization division of Oversee.net®, announced today that it plans to establish operations in Europe during the first quarter of 2010 and has appointed Joerg Schnermann as General Manager, DomainSponsor Europe. Joining his team are Jessica Besseling and Joe Higgins, experienced domain monetization executives with deep expertise working with European publishers.
Schnermann previously was Chief Operating Officer of KeywordDomains.com, where he managed and expanded large portfolios of ccTLDs and monetized traffic through multiple channels. Prior to working in the domain business, he was a marketing manager with the Coatings Division of BASF AG, responsible for the development and launch of value-added services in eight European sales organizations. Schnermann also has a corporate banking background with Commerzbank AG. He received his B.A. in European Business from DCU in Dublin, Ireland as well as a “Diplom Betriebswirt” from the European School of Business in Reutlingen, Germany.
âThe European market is considered to be the fastest growing sector in the global domain space,â said Peter Celeste, Oversee.net Senior Vice President and General Manager of Domain Services. âThis is a significant milestone for DomainSponsor. Weâre delighted to welcome such a talented core team of seasoned domain industry experts. They understand local needs and will help build on existing relationships and establish new ones within the European community.â
Jessica Besseling is a well-known member of the European domain community and previously worked for Oversee in a sales role. Before rejoining Oversee, she was Director of Business Development for DDC. As a native of Luxembourg and former resident of Germany, Besseling has represented DomainSponsor at a number of industry events during her initial tenure with the company.
Joe Higgins currently is a senior account manager at DomainSponsor. One of his areas of focus is the international domain investor community, where he collaborates with international publishers to grow and develop their portfolios. Higgins helped organize and produce the very first DOMAINfest® conference in Barcelona in August 2006 and, since then, has continued to cultivate European relationships and gain a better understanding of the primary differences between European and U.S. traffic and parking platforms.
Joerg, Jessica and Joe will be focusing on the European market, working directly with local publishers to improve and optimize the DomainSponsor platform, and hiring and training a local team for the formal launch of the European business in Q1. They will be actively soliciting feedback from the domain community as they get started. Please contact them directly to be part of this effort:
Joerg Schnermann
General Manager, DomainSponsor, Europe
+49.69.97461.143
jschnermann@domainsponsor.com
Joe Higgins
+49.69.97461.173
jhiggins@domainsponsor.com
Jessica Besseling
+49.69.97461.174
jbesseling@domainsponsor.com