Unless you:
a) own a registered trademark and therefore could potentially pick up a nice, prime .uk domain, or
b) are likely to become an ‘approved’ .uk Registrar (with the potential to make money from the millions of new direct .uk registrations), or
c) are Nominet, or
I cannot really see how anyone else is in favour of the introduction of direct .uk in its current proposed format.
Let’s look a hypothetical scenario surrounding a typical company operating a website, say – anywebsite.co.uk. Assuming Nominet do introduce direct .uk as per its current consultation, what options are available to this company:
1. Do Nothing
‘I already have the .co.uk domain name, why do I need the .uk version?’
Bad Decision – the .uk could be snapped up by a third party (a ‘domainer’ perhaps) who may build a website/put up a landing page. In time, once direct .uk domains become more established, some people will type anywebsite.uk when they really mean anywebsite.co.uk, both for website visits and when sending emails. Plus, anywebsite.uk will be more secure (i.e. in the eyes of the public, more trustworthy) than anywebsite.co.uk.
2. Apply to register the .uk version
If a trademark exists (even if it’s a TM in some other country) for the term ‘anywebsite’, then the owner(s) of these registered rights will get first option to register the domain name anywebsite.uk. Our company can do nothing.
If there are no companies with registered rights, those with unregistered rights will go into an auction process. Our fictitious company may be successful, but would end up paying a higher fee to secure the .uk domain name.
3. Successfully register the .uk version
Let’s assume that the company is able to successfully register anywebsite.uk. Given the wholesale cost of a direct .uk domain name has been muted to be £20 p.a., the retail cost after VAT is likely to be at least £35 p.a., (assuming there was no auction).
The company now has to contact its website host to set up the web/email forwarding etc. for its new direct .uk domain name (another cost). In the future, once direct .uk domains become more widely used, the company decides to use anywebsite.uk for its primary web presence (by now .co.uk domains are seen by the public as inferior and less secure). Roll on more costs – website design changes, logo design, stationery reprinting etc.
4. The Status Quo
The current proposals for direct .uk are scrapped and .co.uk retains its place as the place to be for UK businesses. Companies are not forced into purchasing another domain name in order to protect their business. There are no rebranding, website redesign costs etc. For those who want or need it and if demand is there, Nominet could offer optional security features on existing .co.uk/.org.uk etc. domains.
So the ideal option for most businesses is Option 4. If Nominet push this proposal through in its current format, then Option 3 would be the best businesses could hope for – but this imposes additional costs on every business just to effectively stand still - mainly for the benefit of Nominet, a few privileged Registrars and some trademark holders.