Co-domains: Start up at second level

The co-domains are the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Colombia.

The co-domains are a "typo"-Domain, as many people type e.g. microsoft.co at the browser instead of microsoft.com or microsoft.co.uk. Trade mark holder and big companies must be aware of this "typo"-effect and should protect their trade marks, products and names also at co-domains.

The notion "co" is also often used within other country-code domains, e.g. Indonesia (.co.id), Israel (.co.il), United Kingdom (.co.uk), New Zealand (.co.nz), Japan (.co.jp), South Korea (.co.kr) and Cook Islands (.co.ck). Some other country codes use "com" instead, such as Australia (.com.au), Mexico (.com.mx) and Taiwan (.com.tw). This is the case at Colombia itself, which uses .com.co.

In the year 2000 when many country-code domains were being remarketed as worldwide generic domains, there was some talk of allowing second-level registrations in co-domains for registrants worldwide in order to capitalize on its similarity to the acronym for the word "company" and as a shortened version of other country-codes as noted above. However, the Colombian Council of State prohibited Universidad de los Andes from doing so, and registration remains limited to third-level domains and to Colombian registrants.

On August 13, 2009, via a public procurement process, the Colombian Ministry of Communications conceded the promotion, administration, and technical operation of the co-domains for a period of 10 years to a new organization.

The new management of co-domains will introduce co-domains at the second level and start with an Sunrise Period between April and June 2010.

Eligibility to participate in the Global Sunrise will be limited to holders of trademarks that:
1) were registered and were in full force and effect on or before July 30, 2008;
2) are registered in a trademark office or registry that corresponds to a state or entity described in the WIPO Standard ST.3 code; and
3) fully comply with any and all other specified terms and conditions in the co-domainsSunrise Policy.

Applications will not be granted on a first-come first-served basis, but rather will be collected through the final date of Global Sunrise. In the event that there is more than one entity applying for the same domain name, with each of them have corresponding trademarks, the name will go to auction.

Please note that if you have a Colombian trademark, you will be entitled to apply earlier for registration.

In order to prevent the type of systemic fraud that occurred during certain previous TLD launches, it is utmost importance that all rights claimed by trademark owners during the Sunrise Process go through a strict validation process to ensure that the trademark owners actually have the rights they claim they have. This includes the need for trademark owners to submit certified documentation supporting their intellectual property rights in cases where such rights cannot be validated by an official online database sponsored by the national trademark office.

At the most basic level, in any application for co-domains during the Global Sunrise, applicants will be required to submit certain data to demonstrate that they qualify in relation to the right(s) related to the domain name applied for. The data required will include:
* Registered Mark: Exact word or phrase described by the Registered Mark;
* Registration Number: Registration or serial number of the Registered Mark’s current registration.
* Registration Locality: Location (country/region) where the right is established (using the corresponding WIPO Standard code);
* Capacity: Whether the Applicant holds the trademark as the original “owner” or as an “assignee”.

Deloitte, as the independent “Validation/Verification Agent” will verify every application. This important additional step in the assignment procedure will make sure that only rightful owners will receive a co-domainsat the second level.

The Validation/Verification Agent is generally tasked to give an opinion on whether the information contained in an application meets the requirements laid down in the co-domains Sunrise Policy. This opinion will be made based on information contained in the application, as well as other documentary evidence that may be required in accordance with the Policy.

Hans-Peter Oswald
http://www.domainregistry.de/co-domain.html