DotAsia Auctions Controversy

By on May 20, 2008 in Domains, dotasia, dottel, eurid

auction hammer
Every time a new TLD launches the registry operators have to come up with ways of distributing “premium” names.
Premium names are the “super” domains that are usually dictionary words or close to them. These domains are easy to remember and easy to get to. The most heavily demanded ones are usually related to the adult industry, so it’s not surprising to see that there is always a heavy demand for sex.tld (where tld is the TLD in question)
In the case of dotEU Eurid ran a couple of “sunrise” periods, which were open to trademark and other prior rights holders ie. entities that had a valid claim on a name via a trademark or other method. Even though dotEU has been up and running for some time there are still plenty of legal battles being fought over the sunrise domains.
With dotAsia they have opted for a number of sunrise periods as well, but they also added in an auction scheme to make it more “interesting”. If more than one request was made for a domain name in landrush then the domain is automatically put into an auction which is being managed by Pool. What makes it all the more interesting is that some people are suspecting foul play.
Personally I find the entire system of auctions quite confusing and frustrating, as I’ve ended up bidding against myself for at least one name. I won’t be able to use the domain until someone wins the auction!
Oh well… hopefully dotTel will do a better job of their launch!

About Michele Neylon

Known for his outspoken opinions on technology and the Internet, Michele Neylon is the award winning author of several blogs and co-host of the Technology.ie podcast. A thought leader in the Internet community, Neylon is active with ICANN and an expert on policy, security, ICANN, Nominet and Internet Governance.
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5 Responses to DotAsia Auctions Controversy

  1. martin May 21, 2008 at 11:24 #

    of course, I’m pretty sure all these new TLD’s are needed and not an excuse for someone to print money – !

  2. Michele Neylon May 21, 2008 at 12:02 #

    Martin
    it depends on the TLD in question.
    Some of them are designed to fit a particular need / niche / interest, while others are supposedly aimed at addressing a need that may not actually exist
    regards
    Michele

  3. Francesco Cetraro May 26, 2008 at 11:31 #

    .Tel is not doing auctions… old style FCFS also on sunrise.

  4. Michele Neylon May 27, 2008 at 01:53 #

    Francesco
    That’s good to know.
    I’ve had very mixed and not to positive experiences with the auctions
    Michele

  5. Justin Hayward June 22, 2008 at 10:16 #

    Hi Michele,
    Thanks for following us – our new website is now live and Sunrise (still without auctions) opens on Wednesday December 3rd. We’ve tried to put as much information as possible on the http://www.telnic.org website so hopefully there will be no confusion in Sunrise and a great opportunity for people to get first-come, first-served names that they can afford.
    Regards,
    Justin Hayward
    Telnic