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Home | News | .EU as a tool to reinforce your European brand profile
.EU as a tool to reinforce your European brand profile
Monday, 19 January 2004EURID is planning to launch .EU in 2004. .EU has the potential to become as important as .COM for European companies and some companies with sales in the EU.
According to Cogents .EU expert, Iain Forster, organisations should be thinking strategically about how to take advantage of this new TLD. There are a number of reasons why companies should start to actively think about .EU already. Firstly, we believe that this TLD could compete with .COM in its importance, especially for companies that are operated from within the European Union as it presents an ideal opportunity to acquire a domain name that will be immediately recognisable throughout the EU, further reinforcing a European brand heritage or profile. Secondly it is useful where companies outside the EU are not able to take advantage of ccTLDs because they dont meet specific local registry requirements, he said.
We strongly believe that as the TLD will cover a growing geographical area - with 10 new member states planned to join the EU in April 2004, this marks the TLD as one that will increasingly grow in relevance and importance over time. Commented Forster.
Finally, whilst almost certainly there will be a sunrise period where the legal right to a name constitutes basis for some priority in the domain name application process, there is a potential situation where several rightful owners of ccTLDs will be competing for the same .EU domain name. We, therefore, believe that it is as important for organisations to consider alternatives as well as preferred names to ensure that they come out with a workable .EU solution as the 10 new member states bring approximately 500,000 trademarks into the EU, he concluded.
Planning your approach, however, is critical to maximising the opportunity around .EU. To assist in this process, Cogent has developed a method to help determine what domain names to apply for to maximise the chances of successful registration. Details of this methodology will be discussed in the next .EU update. Cogent will also present a preliminary official timeline for the .EU registration process.
Until then Cogent IPC strongly recommends avoiding pre-registration schemes even if they appear to be available from reputable third parties. It is important to note that EURID categorically states that no registrars have been accredited to process registrations.
According to Cogents .EU expert, Iain Forster, organisations should be thinking strategically about how to take advantage of this new TLD. There are a number of reasons why companies should start to actively think about .EU already. Firstly, we believe that this TLD could compete with .COM in its importance, especially for companies that are operated from within the European Union as it presents an ideal opportunity to acquire a domain name that will be immediately recognisable throughout the EU, further reinforcing a European brand heritage or profile. Secondly it is useful where companies outside the EU are not able to take advantage of ccTLDs because they dont meet specific local registry requirements, he said.
We strongly believe that as the TLD will cover a growing geographical area - with 10 new member states planned to join the EU in April 2004, this marks the TLD as one that will increasingly grow in relevance and importance over time. Commented Forster.
Finally, whilst almost certainly there will be a sunrise period where the legal right to a name constitutes basis for some priority in the domain name application process, there is a potential situation where several rightful owners of ccTLDs will be competing for the same .EU domain name. We, therefore, believe that it is as important for organisations to consider alternatives as well as preferred names to ensure that they come out with a workable .EU solution as the 10 new member states bring approximately 500,000 trademarks into the EU, he concluded.
Planning your approach, however, is critical to maximising the opportunity around .EU. To assist in this process, Cogent has developed a method to help determine what domain names to apply for to maximise the chances of successful registration. Details of this methodology will be discussed in the next .EU update. Cogent will also present a preliminary official timeline for the .EU registration process.
Until then Cogent IPC strongly recommends avoiding pre-registration schemes even if they appear to be available from reputable third parties. It is important to note that EURID categorically states that no registrars have been accredited to process registrations.