Verisign have announced the launch of the phased rollout of the Korean language versions of .com and .net as well as the opening of the landrush period of the Japanese language version of .com.
For the Korean language new gTLDs, the Sunrise launch of the phased rollout of .ë·ì»´ and .ë·ë·, the localised versions of the .com and .net top level domains (TLDs) respectively in Hangul script for the Korean market opened on 16 May and runs until 19 June.
And for the Japanese language version of .com, .ã³ã , the first IDN TLD from Verisign, the Landrush period opened for anyone on a first come, first served basis and runs until 12 June. The Landrush Program Period provides businesses and individuals with the opportunity to register .ã³ã domain names before they become generally available to the public on 13 June.
It is estimated that more than 90 percent of the population of Japan has access to the internet. By enabling Japanese internet users to navigate the web in their native scripts gives individuals and companies the ability to connect with audiences in their preferred language and maintain a common brand identity across multiple scripts, much the same as every other IDN new gTLD.
The registration periods at this stage for the .ã³ã top-level domain are as follows:
- Sunrise Period: Dec. 9, 2015 â March 14, 2016
- Priority Access Program Period: March 15 â May 15, 2016
- Landrush Program Period: May 16 â June 12, 2016
- General Registration Period Start Date: June 13, 2016
- Trademark Claims Period: June 13 â Sept. 11, 2016.
Back to the Korean IDN gTLDs, the .ë·ì»´ and .ë·ë· IDN TLDs will each have distinct registration periods. The Sunrise Period for .ë·ì»´ and .ë·ë· will be on a first come, first served basis, and prospective registrants must have a Signed Mark Data (SMD) file from the Trademark Clearinghouse to participate. During the Sunrise Period, these prospective registrants will be able to register each second-level domain name (SLD) in .ë·ì»´ and .ë·ë· that is an exact match of each SLD permitted by their SMD file. Both IDN and ASCII SLDs may be registered during the Sunrise Period.
Following the Sunrise Period, there will be a Priority Access Program for .ë·ì»´ and .ë·ë· that will last about two months. The Priority Access Program Period for .ë·ì»´ will be an exclusive registration period during which existing registrants of .com domain names will be eligible to register in .ë·ì»´ the identical SLD for which they are the current registrant in .com.
Similarly, during the Priority Access Program Period for .ë·ë·, existing registrants of .net domain names will be exclusively eligible to register in .ë·ë· the identical SLD for which they are the current registrant in .net. Registrations of SLDs in .ë·ì»´ and .ë·ë· during the applicable Priority Access Program Period must be registered through the registrar that is the same registrar-of-record of the existing SLD registration in .com or .net, as the case may be, and must be by the same registrant of the existing SLD registration. All registrations during the Priority Access Program Period for .ë·ì»´ and .ë·ë· are subject to availability and the applicable registry policies and, as in the case of Sunrise, both IDN and ASCII SLDs may be registered.
The registration periods for .ë·ì»´ and .ë·ë· at this stage are:
- Sunrise Period: May 16 â June 19, 2016
- Priority Access Program Period: June 20 â Aug. 15, 2016
- Landrush Program Period: Aug. 16 â Aug. 29, 2016
- General Registration Period Start Date: Aug. 30, 2016
- Trademark Claims Period: Aug. 30 â Nov. 28, 2016.