co.uk-uk transition

Finally we have the news and it is a champagne day for all .co.uk holders who had to live for more than a year in a state of worry, as their .co.uk holdings could have been devalued if .uk was granted to other registrants.

The other topic which is very interesting for domain catchers relates to this new policy:

Anti-gaming measures: To prevent the gaming of uncontested domains in Nominet-managed Second Level Domains other than .co.uk, we have decided to set a cut-off date of midnight on 28th October 2013, the day before our decision to proceed with SLDR. The registrants of these uncontested domain names are eligible for the Right of Refusal on the related .uk domain. Any .co.uk domain names registered between the cut-off date and launch where there is a pre- existing uncontested domain in a Nominet managed Second Level Domain do not accrue a right of refusal to the .uk domain name. But any new co.uk registrations from the cut-off point will get a Right of Refusal to the corresponding second level if there is no pre-existing registered third level equivalent name.

I had a good think over what this means and why it is needed. Here is my interpretation:

Nominet announced new .uk domains giving exclusive rights to existing .co.uk owners to apply for .uk. But what happens if there was no .co.uk registered but there was .org.uk/me.uk/ltd.uk/..etc 3-rd level domain? Yes - exactly - it means that someone could be very quick to scan & grab .co.uk after today’s announcement and prevent existing “uncontested” 3-rd level domain owners from applying for .uk domain. So this restriction is in place to prevent this happening.

What happens to .co.uk domains caught after the ‘cut-off date of 28 October’? I believe they are not affected and still receive the right of first refusal (i.e. right to get .uk). This is because the corresponding .org.uk/..etc/ domain was not “uncontested” on the cut-off date, because .co.uk was registered at that time.

Your thoughts are welcome :)

UPDATE #1: I’ve read through Q&A section at http://www.nominet.org.uk/how-participate/policy-development/IntroducingSecondLevelDomains/qanda :

There seems to be a almost exact question & answer:

Q: What happens if the domain with the rights to .uk, among the non-co.uk clashes, drops between 28th Oct 2013 and launch?

A: The right to the .uk is lost.

But if my interpretation of “among the non-co.uk clashes” is correct, then this relates only to clashed non .co.uk domains. Say, .org.uk and .me.uk existed on 28th October, so .org.uk had a right to .uk. Then .org.uk drops before the launch and it loses it’s right to get .uk.

.co.uk seems to be getting much priority, which is also evidenced by the question whether .org.uk registered before .co.uk after 28th of October gets the right to .uk. No, it doesn’t and late coming .co.uk gets it instead.

What I’d like to have Nominet clarify among these Q&A: - What happens if .co.uk domain name which was qualified for the rights to .uk (as of 28th October) drops after 28th October and later (before the launch date) is registered again? As other suffixes were not eligible for their .uk right as not “uncontested” on 28th October, would re-registration of .co.uk which had rights to .uk restore it’s rights to the .uk?

UPDATE #2:

Hi Denys,

Thank you for your email.

If a .co.uk domain name qualified for the rights to the .uk domain name on the 28th of October and was subsequently cancelled, the rights to the .uk domain name are lost. However, if the .co.uk is re-registered prior to the launch, the rights are then given to the registrant of the .co.uk.

This is an issue that has already been raised by a few parties and further clarity in the ‘Questions & Answers’ section on our web site will be made available shortly.

If you have any questions, please do contact me on 01865 332244 or by email at matthew.garnham@nominet.org.uk.

Regards,

Matthew Garnham Second Line Support