Tag Archives: .london

Domain Name Aftermarket, Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

Auction Gives Londoners Chance To Own Prime .London Domains

dotLONDON logoFifty of London’s most-wanted premium domain names are to be auctioned off to give Londoners a unique chance to own sought after .london premium domains and raise up to £50,000 for charities across the capital.

Businesses and individuals will get the chance to own some prime online London real estate by bidding for premium domain names in an online auction of 50 of their top domain names, which have never been released to the public before, from 13 – 30 July.

Dot London has teamed up with the Evening Standard and The Dispossessed Fund and will be donating a proportion of the auction’s proceeds to the fund. The money raised will be distributed to grassroots charities supported by the fund, helping to tackle poverty, inequality and exclusion across the capital.

The 50 premium domain names up for grabs during the auction will include key generic names such as – ‘cars.london’, ‘spa.london’, ‘gallery.london’, ‘flats.london’ and ‘cycle.london’.

Interest in .london has been strong, with over 64,000 domains registered since its launch in April 2014. Over 3,000 of those registered names are premium, varying from personal names, to generic words, and to place names.

A number of companies have opted to register generic keywords as their .london premium domain names, creating a stronger synergy with search terms and links for prospective customers looking online for suppliers and contractors. A company that is currently supporting their brand identity with a matching .london premium name is Dine Time Ltd, who is using ‘Brunch.London’ for their new brunch booking website that they launched in March 2015.

Keith Newton, Managing Director of Dine Time Ltd, said: “London has the largest brunch market in the country and the new Dot London domain was the obvious choice to launch a website focused solely on the capital. As ‘Brunch.London’ is a new site, we weren’t sure how Dot London domains would be treated by search engines, but our placement has been steadily improving and we now appear in the top five position on Google for relevant keywords.”

Other current live premium names include ‘Catering.London’, which is being used by catering and events experts, The London Catering Company; The Shire London, the only golf course in the UK to have been designed by the late Seve Ballesteros, have registered ‘Golf.London’; and Advising London, formerly the Blackfriars Advice Centre, have been able to support their rebranding strategy by adopting ‘Advising.London’.

Leading exterior building cleaning and restoration company, Thomann-Hanry, have also taken the opportunity to register a premium .london name that’s relevant to their line of work. Mark Styles, Managing Director at Thomann-Hanry, commented: “We registered ‘Cleaning.London’ as soon as the new domain names were made available. We’re cleaning the face of some of London’s most iconic buildings so our new memorable and short domain name seems really fitting to what we do in the capital.”

Alex Kinchin-Smith, Director of Dot London, said: “Our premium name auction gives companies and individuals the chance to own some of our most valuable domain names, allowing them to have a name that relates closer to their line of work, potentially help improve their search engine placement, create unique marketing and branding opportunities, and further strengthen their links with the city.

“It’s a real honour to be partnering with The Dispossessed Fund for the auction. The fund has awarded grants to help a number of small London charities, thereby changing lives and giving hundreds of people across the city the chance to improve their future, for the better.”

Since its launch, .london suffix has proved to be popular with some of London’s leading icons, including the Wimbledon Championships; visitor attractions, ZSL London Zoo and Museum of London; the newest edition to the city’s skyline, Sky Garden; and a number of co-working spaces that are helping to build London’s reputation as Europe’s leading tech hub.

The auction will be held online by independent provider, Pool.com. It will take the form of a public and open auction, starting at 12pm (BST) on Monday 13 July and closes at 12pm (BST) on Thursday 30 July. For more information and to register, visit: https://domainauctions.london.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

Minds + Machines Optimistic With Reserves of $48m

Minds + Machines logoMinds + Machines has a hand in 20 uncontested gTLDs, 13 of which have launched to date, as well as five geographical gTLDs, is partnering on a further four uncontested gTLDs one of which has launched and is the back end registry service provider for a further five clients of which two have launched. These are some of the highlights of an update the group provided on its portfolio of new gTLDs aimed at shareholders.

Of the 20 gTLDs it wholly owns, the 13 to have launched account for 46,501 registrations at the time they compiled the update. The largest of these is .work with 20,605 registrations, while no other has topped the 10,000 registrations mark.

But the most successful of its gTLDs has been .london which has 62,143 registrations while .bayern has 29,351 and its only other geo gTLD to have launched to date, which Knipp is the back end provider, .nrw has 7,701.

It also has a hand in one other gTLD with over 10,000 registrations – .kiwi – which has 11,406.

Since 1 January 2015, the Minds + Machines’s portfolio has achieved over 63,000 registrations.

Looking to the future, the Directors anticipate contested domains should mainly be resolved through the private auction process before the end of Q3 2015. Those that are not resolved through the private auction process are likely to go to an ICANN auction of last resort where ICANN retains the winning bidder’s funds rather than those funds being divided amongst the competing bidders. Currently, cash reserves stand at $48 million.

It is also anticipated registration revenues should build significantly in the second half of the current financial year as a result of: planned domain launches in that period, including .law and .abogado, domain name renewals and the impact of its Premium Name activity currently being developed.

“We believe the Group is strongly positioned to compete in the remaining auction rounds,” said Antony Van Couvering, CEO of Minds + Machines. “We are likewise encouraged by the Group’s ability to have grown its cash reserves since 31 December whilst completing seven top-level domain launches during that period. Our focus is now on the successful commercialisation of those domains already launched and the phased launch programme for our remaining domains to maximise the penetration of each in their given markets.”

For more details see investors.mindsandmachines.com/2015/04/gtld-portfolio-update-2/.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, ICANN and Governance, New gTLDs

New gTLD Registrations Pass 5 Million Mark With Many Performing Well

The five millionth registration of domain names across the 588 new gTLDs for which there are at least one registration occurred last week. Currently there are 5,037,000 registrations according to nTLDstats.com.Registrations continue to grow for many of the new gTLDs, but many of the winners are starting to stand out. The largest of the new gTLDs is still .xyz with over 875,000 registrations or 17.32 percent of all registrations, but potentially 40 percent of these have been given away in a promotion by Network Solutions where their existing .com registrants were given the corresponding .xyz domain, and hence renewal rates would be expected to be low. But even so, it would still see .xyz easily the largest of the new gTLDs.The second largest going by registrations is .网址 (.website) but this currently has 349,226 registrations, with all but nine registered to the Internet Domain Name System Beijing Engineering Research Center LLC and the remaining nine registered to the registry.One of the biggest successes has been .club, third on the nTLDstats.com list, which boasts all of its 206,000 registrations are full paid for.Of all the city gTLDs, .berlin remains the largest with 157,000 registrations and the fourth largest gTLD, but in June they will face a big hit when up to 90,000 domains given away or sold cheaply in a promotion come up for renewal. So far the gTLD that commenced its General Availability in March has seen a good renewal rate and registrations are still increasing.A number of other city gTLDs have also done well, with success varying largely due to eligibility policies and marketing. The .nyc (New York City) gTLD is the eleventh largest, has almost 75,000 registrations and eligibility is restricted to New Yorkers, while .london is the thirteenth largest with over 60,300 registrations and no eligibility restrictions. And numbers don’t tell the whole story with many of the geographical gTLDs. Several operators such as .tirol are using theirs as a promotional tool for tourism and business.There are seven gTLDs in total with over 100,000 registrations. The others are .wang with 138,800 registrations, .science (108,800) and .link (106,500). But the .science gTLD has over three-quarters of its registrations (77.92%) with one registrar.And there are 94 gTLDs with over 10,000 registrations and 163 with more than 5,000.To date there are, from this writer’s counting, 334 gTLDs to have entered General Availability with 226 registrars handling registrations for at least one gTLD. On backend registries, Donuts is easily the largest and like .club, claim all 1.354 million domains registered (26.81% of all registrations) among their 173 gTLDs to be paid for. CentralNic is the second largest gTLD registry by registration numbers with 973,800 domains registered across their 21 gTLDs.But not all gTLDs can ever expect such large numbers. Small cities and organisations haven’t budgeted for such numbers. And there appear to be some gTLDs that just won’t make it.There are also a number of the new gTLDs that appear to be not making targets or registration numbers that would make them viable. One of these is .realtor aimed at the real estate agent market in North America. Even though there are 95,800 domains registered, they have all been given away free. The operator had plans to give away 500,000 domains in the first year but is falling well short, in part due to restrictive conditions on what strings could be registered. It seems sometimes even if something is free it’s not worth it.Others that would appear to be struggling would be .whoswho with 31 registrations, .rich (66), .संगठन (.organisation – 123), .ltda (153) and .wed (204). But time will tell.Overall there are 34 gTLDs with less than 1,000 registrations that have entered General Availability. One, .vote has 653 registrations while .voting has over 11,800 registrations. The latter has been in General Availability for eight months, the former for two months. But after two months in General Availability .voting had well over 10,000 registrations.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

Four Million Domains Registered In New gTLDs In Under 12 Months

If registration numbers are what you go by, four million domains registered in under 12 months for the 461 gTLDs across 318 registries and 224 registrars taking registrations is pretty good going. But it is still early days and not one domain name in any of the new gTLDs has come up for renewal yet.The four millionth registration occurred on 7 January according to statistics published by nTLDstats.com, boosted in recent days by the launch of the .Q@ (website) gTLD which rocketed into second place on the chart for most registrations and now has passed 354,400 domains under management (DUM). However 354,414 of these domains to date are registered through one registrar – Internet Domain Name System Beijing Engineering Research Center LLC (ZDNS) and the remaining four to the registry operator. So it’s not likely the public has been registering these domains.Domain Incite has explained the anomaly as the “registry, Knet, which acquired original applicant Hu Yi last year, operates a keyword-based navigation system in China that predates Chinese-script gTLDs.””The company has simply grandfathered its keyword customers into .Q@, I’m told.”The keyword system allows Latin-script domains too, which explains the large number of western brands that appear in the .Q@ zone.”The second reason for the huge bump is the fact that many of the domains are essentially duplicates.”Meanwhile the .xyz gTLD continues to blow all other gTLDs out of the water when it comes to total registrations with over three-quarters of a million (767,883), however the vast majority of these have been “given” to the unsuspecting registrants of the .com equivalent in a deal with Network Solutions.In third place is .club with 165,973 DUMs who, like Donuts with their 158 gTLDs up and running, claim that none of their domains have been given away. Which puts them in a great place for when domains come up for renewal as if someone has made the effort to pay for a domain, they’re much more likely to want to renew it.The top 11 includes three city gTLDs – .berlin in fourth with 155,466, .nyc (New York City) with 66,838 in eighth and .london in eleventh with 54,002 DUMs. While .berlin appear to have given away or sold cheaply around 90,000 domains, they like other city gTLDs should expect high renewal numbers. And their future seems safe.But it’s not all big registration numbers. Some gTLDs charge a higher premium than others and one such gTLD is .luxury. It may only have 1,294 DUMs, but they have much higher registration fees and are aimed at (naturally) luxury brands. So its future would seem safer than many of those with similar registration numbers.A couple of gTLDs one would have to question their future are .rich and .wed, the latter aimed at short term use for those getting married. Both gTLDs have been around for months and still only have 59* and 125 DUMs respectively. It seems luxury is a better deal than being rich when it comes to domains.Overall it seems that city and regional gTLDs are being very successful, as are those with a good idea and good marketing behind them such as .club and a number of Donuts gTLDs such as .guru, .photography and .email. But for many, it’s when domains come up for renewal, the first of which start happening in the next few months. Stay tuned. * [updated] although with registration prices of around $2,5000 per domain, they do have more of a chance of survival than quite a few others.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

Donuts Among Big Winners As Total New gTLD Registrations Pass 3 Million In 9 Months

There are now over three million domain names registered across the 254 new gTLDs that have entered General Availability and another 173 that have been delegated according to figures compiled by nTLDstats.com.The three million mark was passed on 24 October and the figure stood at 3,071,575 at the end of 30 October.The new gTLD with the most registrations continues to be .xyz with 684,256 registrations, or 22.51 percent of all the domains. But this figure is boosted by a controversial promotion run by Network Solutions where over half (376,901 or 55.08%) of all its domains are registered. One in five (142,905 – 20.88%) are registered through the Chinese registrar Xin Net Technology Corporation.Second on the list continues to be .berlin with 152,355 registrations, which despite a promotion that went awry that saw almost 90,000 domains either given away or registered cheaply in three days, continues to do well.For both gTLDs it will be interesting to see what their renewal rates are when domains come due for re-registration.Coming in third is the .club gTLD that boasts all its domains registered are paid for. Meaning if paid for domains were only included it could easily be the largest of all the new gTLDs.Coming in fourth and seventh are .realtor and .ovh with 79,571 and 53,674 registrations respectively and that appear to have given away all, or almost all, their domains.Rounding out the top ten are two more city gTLDs – .london and .nyc that come in at eighth and ninth respectively with 48,203 and 47,497 registrations respectively. And .guru and .photography, two Donuts gTLDs, come in at sixth and tenth with 74,941 and 47,296 registrations respectively.Donuts now have well over one million registrations across all 151 of their gTLDs that have been delegated, 140 in General Availability. The latest count is 1,029,049 according to nTLDstats.com. “All fully paid,” Dan Schindler, co-founder and Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, for Donuts told the Goldstein Report.Donuts are particularly happy with all their gTLDs to date, but they’re even more chuffed with the success of .guru and .photography.”.guru was an enormous surprise to us,” said Schindler. “We were really surprised and we’ve tried to analyse why.””It’s fun and everyone can claim to be a .guru,” Schindler thinks is the reason behind the success. “Photography has also been a very pleasant surprise. In a world of two and three letter TLDs, it is a surprise longer names do so well.” Another to surprise Donuts Schindler said was .technology, currently coming in at 26th place with 21,200 registrations. Others Schindler expects to do well for them are .company, .email and .today.It’s not just total registration numbers for gTLDs. Renewal rates will be something to look out for a year or two down the track. But Schindler thinks Donuts will have high renewal rates for four reasons:

  1. where names paid for, the early renewal rates are high for those early adopters
  2. people cherish something they paid for
  3. they got in early and got the pick of the bunch
  4. these names don’t have enormous type in traffic so not bought by speculators, bought for longer term investments.
Domain Name Disputes, Domain Name Registry

PIPCU Gets Funding To 2017 To Continue Fight Against IP Fraud, And Suspend Related Domains

The City of London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has been given funding to ensure its existence to at least 2017, and will undoubtedly see it continue to be a thorn in the side of those who peddle counterfeit goods online.Among its successes, the IP Crime Group report 2013/2014 notes PIPCU has already investigated more than £29 million worth of IP crime and has suspended 2,359 domain names. PIPCU was also involved in the review of Nominet’s domain registration policy.The Minister for Intellectual Property, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, confirmed the £3 million has been allocated to the City of London Police’s national crime unit at the Anti-Counterfeiting Group Conference in London.PIPCU uses several methods to address intellectual property crime including some new tools and techniques. These include deregistering domain names, the removal of payment services from sites selling, counterfeit/infringing products, working with advertising companies to reduce advertising as a revenue source on such sites, and court blocking orders against Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and mainstream criminal prosecutions.PIPCU was set-up in September 2013 and is now a 21-person team consisting of detectives, police staff investigators, analysts, researchers, an education officer and a communications officer. The unit also has the added skills and expertise from two secondees; a Senior Intelligence Officer from the UK IPO and an Internet Investigator from the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI).”The Government committing to fund the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit until 2017 is fantastic news for the City of London Police and the creative industries and very bad news for those that seek to make capital through intellectual property crime,” said City of London Police Commander Steve Head, who is the Police National Coordinator for Economic Crime.”Since launching a year ago PIPCU has quickly established itself as an integral part of the national response to a problem that is costing the UK more than a billion pounds a year. Much of this success is down to PIPCU moving away from traditional policing methods and embracing new and innovative tactics, to disrupt and dismantle criminal networks responsible for causing huge damages to legitimate businesses.”PIPCU has benefitted immensely from forging a close alliance with the IPO; forming partnerships with national and international law enforcement bodies, the creative industries and the public and private sector. This puts the unit and the City of London Police as a whole in a strong position to make an even bigger impact and greater inroads into intellectual property crime over the next couple of years.”Baroness Neville-Rolfe commented that PIPCU’s continued operation will help in the fight against IP crime, which costs the UK economy £ 1.3 billion a year in lost profits and taxes.”We’ve seen significant success in PIPCU’s first year of operation. This extra support for the unit will help them to build on this impressive record in the fight against intellectual property crime, which costs the UK at least £ 1.3 billion a year in lost profits and taxes,” said Baroness Neville-Rolfe.”With more money now being invested in ideas than factories or machinery in the UK, it is vital that we protect creators and consumers and the UK’s economic growth. Government and industry must work together to give long-term support to PIPCU, so that we can strengthen the UK’s response to the blight of piracy and counterfeiters.”The IP Crime Group report 2013/2014​​ is available for download from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/361045/ipcreport13.pdf

New gTLDs

.NYC Ready To Go!

dotNYC logoGeneral Availability for .nyc (New York City) domains commences at 15:00 UTC on 8 October.

The gTLD is only available to New York City businesses and organisations with a New York City address and individuals with a primary residence in the city. It is not even possible to contract for a virtual office space or other virtual address in the City of New York according to the registry’s Nexus policy. One needs a physical street address in New York City.

According to nTLDstats.com, there are over 6,000 domains registered during .nyc’s Sunrise and Landrush periods. This compares favourably to .london that launched its GA with 7,703 domains registered, yet there were no eligibility restrictions for .london. Around six weeks later there are 44,800 .london domains registered.

New gTLDs

.LONDON Purring Along With Over 40,000 Registrations

dotLONDON logoThe .london gTLD is purring along and has made it into seventh place on the nTLDstats.com list of all new gTLDs with 41,922 domains registered. The gTLD has had widespread appeal, partly due to their being no eligibility requirements, with 15 percent of all domains registered outside the United Kingdom according to figures released by GoDaddy.

Registrants in the United States account for 5.9 percent of all .london domains registered, 1.9 percent are from Germany and 1.1 percent from Australia. The diversity “show that London is one of the most attractive cities to businesses worldwide” said Stefano Maruzzi, VP of GoDaddy EMEA.

“The .LONDON domain was always going to prove popular with local businesses as it gives them a great opportunity to personalise their digital identity and build greater ties with their location,” Maruzzi went on to say. “However, we’ve also seen a large number of businesses outside the UK acting swiftly to boost their profile in one of the world’s largest and most competitive business hubs.”

Interest in Dot London has been strong from the start and on the first day the new domain name went on general availability over 9,000 domains were registered making a total of over 44,000 registrations now received. Leading businesses that have signed up include Fortnum & Mason, KPMG, Metro Bank, Cath Kidston, ZSL London Zoo, the menswear clothing firm dunhill, The Royal College of Art, and Storm Models, who represent models such as Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne.

“The launch of Dot London is one of the most exciting things to have happened on London’s digital scene for many years, and it’s thrilling to be right at the centre of this ground-breaking moment,” said Boris Johnson, The Mayor of London. “London’s new domain name provides a phenomenal opportunity to link businesses all over the world with our city’s powerful brand.”

A number of London and UK-based sports teams and associations, including West Ham United and Harlequins, have also registered their Dot London names with the aim of bolstering their links with London’s reputation as one of the world’s leading international sporting arenas.

“Deciding to adopt a Dot London domain name was a very easy decision for us at Harlequins. We are the London rugby club with a vibrant history in the city and a real heritage within the capital,” said Harlequins Head of Marketing and Communications, Imogen Gaunt. “This domain reinforces our London position and augments the relationships we have with our supporters and partners in the city.”

The new domain name has also, as expected, proved to be popular with many of London’s SMEs, with applications from companies like Highgate-based classic car dealers, Hexagon Classics; family-run organic butchers, Grahams; and Southeast London-based The Cake Store, who have been baking since 1945.

“For over 50 years we have been in the business of dealing with iconic luxury British motoring brands, such as Jaguar and Aston Martin, so having a Dot London domain name will allow us to stand out from the rest and strengthen our link with one of the most seminal brands in the world – London,” said Paul Michaels, chairman of Hexagon Classics.

Domain Name Registrants, New gTLDs

.LONDON Kicks Off GA in Style

The .london gTLD is well on its way to the top ten new gTLDs when it comes to total registrations, coming in 12th at the end of its first day of General Availability with 35,557.The gTLD for England’s capital already had around 26,000 registrations before GA started on 9 September, largely due to a liberal Priority Period that allowed anyone to register a .london domain, but gave priority to Londoners and London-based businesses. In General Availability anyone anywhere can register a .london domain.Overall there are now 2.2 million domains registered across the 395 gTLDs that have been delegated while 211 gTLDs have entered General Availability.The top gTLD when it comes to total registrations remains .xyz which is now approaching the half million mark, and currently has 486,600 followed by .berlin with almost 138,600 registrations. But both gTLDs have run promotions where domains were given away for free or at sharply reduced prices.The gTLD that claims it has the most paid for domains is .club, now with 104,200 registrations while .guru (70,500) and .wang (64,600) round out the top five.There are now 19 gTLDs with more than 20,000 registrations, 41 with more than 10,000, 85 with more than 5,000 and 188 with more than 1,000.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

NIGHTLIFE.LONDON Tops Applications As .LONDON Priority Period Draws To A Close

As the close of the priority phase draws near, the most popular .london domains applied for have been announced.With four days to go until the end of the three-month .london launch period London’s property and entertainment industries are proving to be the most popular choice for new .london domains.Terms connected with the housing market, such as properties.london (which has received more than 30 applications), apartments.london and houses.london are among the most sought after .london domains. Trades that serve the property industry are also proving popular, with addresses such as removals.london and scaffolding.london receiving numerous applications, while there are three times as many applications for estateagent.london as for lettingagent.london.However, the most popular .london domain name is nightlife.london, with more than 40 applications. London’s pre-eminence in the entertainment sector is also reflected in the popularity of domain names such as whatson.london, theatretickets.london and concerts.london.The initial launch phase for .london, where applications from Londoners and London-based organisations are given priority status, ends at 17:00 on 31 July. Trademark holders also have until 31 July to register their applications. More information is available at dotlondondomains.londonThe Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “London is the best place in the world to come and live, work and relax so it’s no surprise that’s reflected in the most popular new Dot London web addresses. Until Thursday we are putting Londoners at the front of the queue for new domain names so I would urge everyone in the capital who wants one to come forward to grab the opportunity.”Leading businesses and international brands are among those that have applied for new .london domain names during the initial phase. They include the menswear firm dunhill London, The Landmark Hotel, The Royal College of Art, ZSL London Zoo and Cath Kidston. They will join .london pioneers such as Fortnum & Mason, the London Symphony Orchestra and Metro Bank as some of the first businesses to secure a .london domain.By acquiring a .london domain name, businesses, museums, shops, theatres and galleries will secure a web address that is more relevant to them as a London brand, easy to remember and instantly identifies them as being located in London or having an association with the city.Natasha Hinds-Payne, who is responsible for protecting the Cath Kidston brand online, said: “London is the city where the Cath Kidston brand was founded. We’ve registered our name under the Dot London Priority period because we want to ensure that customers wishing to reach us in London can find us with ease and because of the direct association to our brand’s birthplace.”David Green, Head of Global Digital Marketing at KPMG, said, “The Internet is changing, impacting how brands and businesses engage with their customers in an increasingly digital economy. The city’s new Dot London domain presents London-based businesses with an important opportunity: a Dot London domain signals a geographical relationship with the city, providing greater relevance for anyone searching for a particular supplier or business in London, as well as branding benefits of association with one of the world’s leading city brands.”Louise Popple, senior associate in the Trade Marks, Media and Copyright practice at international law firm Taylor Wessing, said: “The launch of Dot London is an exciting opportunity for anyone with a connection to the city. Going forward, it should be possible to search just amongst Dot London websites, which – in the crowded internet space – will be a significant bonus for London businesses. But it does open up the possibility of abuse. Brand owners with a strong London connection would be wise to register their brand as a Dot London domain, even if only to avoid the risk of cyber squatters. Registering domains tends to be much cheaper than fighting to recover them.”Simon Yeoman, UK General Manager at Fasthosts Internet Ltd said: “We have seen great interest and a strong demand for Dot London. It is vital that London-based firms take advantage of the London Priority Period and grasp their domains first. Dot London was created for them and will become an ever-more valuable asset. With just some days until priority applications start to be awarded, we’re looking forward to seeing our first Dot London customers’ websites grow online.”For information, during London Priority Period from 29 April until 31 July 2014, anybody with an interest in London can apply for a .london domain name. Allocation of names will depend on a priority ranking. The following priority ranking will be used:
1. Trademarks verified with ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse database
2. Londoners (those with a physical address in the City of London or its 32 boroughs) with rights to a name (such as proof of business or trading name
3. Londoners (those with a physical address in the City of London or its 32 boroughs
4. Non-LondonersDuring August 2014, .london will allocate names according to priority ranking. Domain names with a single applicant will be allocated first. In cases where there is more than one applicant in the same priority ranking for the same domain name, an auction will decide who will get the name. Validation will be used to assess where applicants fall in the priority ranking.At the end of London Priority Period, if there is more than one applicant in the same priority ranking, those applicants will be invited by their registrars to participate in an auction for the applied-for domain name. Applicants may choose to participate or withdraw from the auction. The auction will then take the form of a private and closed auction via an online platform.