.UK Announced

[foz]

With whoever gets the .uk put to one side, you still have all the other issues on the table to deal with.

 

[Alien]

It seems likely that Nominet will adopt the (rather silly in my opinion) TM approach anyway, so it's immaterial probably...

 

[bulkcorn]

Why should .co.uk holders get first refusal?

I have some good org.uk''s but there would be no argument whatsoever for the org.uk owner being anywhere in the pecking order. Org.uk is sold for non profit and the new.uk would be for business.

Answer in bold by websaway!

 

[Alien]

Answer in bold by websaway!

There are many legit businesses using .org.uk.

 

[Edwin]

There are many legit businesses using .org.uk.

Of course there are, but that doesn't negate the fact that it's always been marketed as the extension for non-profits. It's like setting up a shop in a residential area rather than the commercial district - it MIGHT still survive, and even thrive, but you know going into it (eyes wide open) that there just won't be the same footfall to tap into, and there may be other issues that crop up that wouldn't be the case in the commercial part of the city.

This is what Nominet has to say in its rules ( http://www.nominet.org.uk/uk-domain-names/registering-uk-domain/choosing-domain-name/rules ) about the .org.uk SLD: "Registrants in .org.uk are intended to be not-for-profit or public service enterprises, and a Third Level Domain within this SLD is intended to be related to these enterprises and their activities. These may include, as non-exhaustive examples, charities, trades unions, political parties, community groups, educational councils, and professional institutions."

They also state that there are no restrictions on who can register them, but "In the SLD Charter of the SLD Rules for the Open SLDs we do set out certain intentions regarding the class of applicant or use of registrations of the Domain Name which we assume you will comply with when applying for a registration of a Domain Name within an Open SLD. However, we do not forbid applications, and will take no action in respect of registrations that do not comply with the SLD Charters."

In other words (paraphrased): "You have been warned, but you can go ahead anyway if you like."

Incidentally, there are, by definition, NO legitimate businesses on .me.uk because the following T&C apply: "The .me.uk SLD is intended to provide a personal namespace within the .uk Top Level Domain. Unless Rules 9.4 or 9.5 apply, registrants of .me.uk domain names must be, and remain at all times, natural persons (a “qualifying person"), and shall not be recorded on the register as being the agent, trustee, proxy or representative for any person or entity (whether having an individual legal personality or not) which is not a qualifying person."

If you ARE running a business on .me.uk it just means that Nominet hasn't noticed yet, but you're still breaking their T&C. And unlike .org.uk there's no "We'll look the other way" clause either.

 

[websaway]

Coming back to the crux of the matter. There is no legitimate reason for nominet to launch a new extention in direct competition to the "for business use" .co.uk
If they need a secure extension then it should be sec.uk or the like.

 

[Alien]

Incidentally, there are, by definition, NO legitimate businesses on .me.uk because the following T&C apply: "The .me.uk SLD is intended to provide a personal namespace within the .uk Top Level Domain. Unless Rules 9.4 or 9.5 apply, registrants of .me.uk domain names must be, and remain at all times, natural persons (a “qualifying person"), and shall not be recorded on the register as being the agent, trustee, proxy or representative for any person or entity (whether having an individual legal personality or not) which is not a qualifying person."

If you ARE running a business on .me.uk it just means that Nominet hasn't noticed yet, but you're still breaking their T&C. And unlike .org.uk there's no "We'll look the other way" clause either.

Slightly off topic/of interest, ubu.me.uk are a legitimate business using .me.uk.

Here's what Nominet said about it, in 2008:

The .me.uk domain names are intended for personal registrations, however we do appreciate that the ubu.me.uk domain name is registered to a UK Limited Company.

In accordance to the domain name rules
http://www.nominet.org.uk/registrants/aboutdomainnames/rules/ section 9.5, the domain name ubu.me.uk was registered on 05 July 2004 and can remain registered to the limited company until it is transferred to another party or cancelled.

 

[websaway]

Who are the people that have instigated these changes ?

In the event of this happening.

Who would get london ?

London.co.uk was registered in 1996 before anybody woke up to the values of domain space.
London.co.uk is pointed at sedo,so not in use, I fancy mr Johnson among others would be eyeing that one.

 

[grantw]

London.co.uk is pointed at sedo,so not in use,

They haven't gone into how use is defined. In my opinion the only way they can do it is if the domain resolves/has active nameservers. There are plenty of domains out there that are being legitimately used for email and go to a blank holding page.

Grant

 

[domainseller200]

London.co.uk is pointed at sedo,so not in use, I fancy mr Johnson among others would be eyeing that one.

It could be argued that anyone parking domain names IS classed as a business as they have financial gains from parking the names and therefore it is their business model - a few years back this was how the majority of domainers made a living until the revenue dried up.

 

[GreyWing]

It could be argued that anyone parking domain names IS classed as a business as they have financial gains from parking the names and therefore it is their business model - a few years back this was how the majority of domainers made a living until the revenue dried up.

Could be more than argued..... Nominet may not know it but they have already said it is a business model and have put that in writing.... not saying too much about that at this point.

 

[websaway]

It could be argued that anyone parking domain names IS classed as a business as they have financial gains from parking the names and therefore it is their business model - a few years back this was how the majority of domainers made a living until the revenue dried up.

Wondering what would happen if someone paid say £xxxxxx for xxxxx.co.uk
and left it unused to clean up for six months with the search engines, and while they devoloped the intended business.
The qualifying date happens to fall within that six months

 

[foz]

In general when to businesses (not retail) in the UK close for Christmas break and then re-open?

 

[eddieb]

In general when to businesses (not retail) in the UK close for Christmas break and then re-open?

Generally most in the UK close on the 24th and re-open Jan 2nd. This varies a bit depending on whether or not Xmas falls during the weekend, in which case the bank holiday moves. In my own experience they expect their staff to save approx 4-5 days of their holiday entitlement to make up the days not covered by Xmas & New Years bank holidays.

 

[Marcoose]

One of my main sites is a .com but I acquired the .co.uk to protect the site. I'm not actually using the .co.uk so does that mean I stand to miss out on the .UK?

There must be a load of different scenarios like this to add to this already massively complex proposal. Headaches all round my online business chums?

And just think, we are the people in the know! I feel sorry for all the people that don't know what's going on and the effect this is going to have on their business! A 3 month consultation - nothing like a fast track to get what would be an even more unpopular measure approved!

 

[websaway]

If "in use" is defined as valid name servers held at ns1.nic.uk and an A record existing for any of:

(a) www.*.{co|org|me|ltd|plc}.uk
(b) @.*.{co|org|me|ltd|plc}.uk
resolving to a web server on port 80 and/or

(c) an MX record for @.*.{co|org|me|ltd|plc}.uk resolving to an IP address

where * is a third level domain name it will ignore that it is perfectly legitimate to have an A record of {something-obscure}.*.{co|org|me|ltd|plc}.uk resolving somewhere, whether to a web page on port 80 or something else on any other port. Moreover {something-obscure} will only feature in a zone file held by the name servers hosting the domain name, and would not appear in name servers maintained by Nominet, and so could only be known to visitors who had been made aware of its existence if it had not been published. There is no requirement to resolve either (a) or (b) to port 80 of a web server or to have (c) exist for a domain name to be "in use" for other activities. Therefore anyone operating a domain name that has had functioning name servers at ns1.nic.uk may be able to legitimately demonstrate that an A record {something-obscure}.{their-domain-name}.{co|org|me|ltd|plc}.uk has resolved somewhere without it being possible to disprove their claim.

Have I composed this coherently enough for it to make sense to the majority? I realise not everyone may be familiar with DNS and zone files.

Thanks for that. Joe Bloggs can sleep sound in his bed tonight after reading this and his essential periodic update on quantum physics.

 

[~andy]

The phishers are going to love this.

barclaysco.uk

Doesn't look right to me, but the average joe is going to be confused.

 

[websaway]

Unfortunately I am not aware of a more simple way of explaining it without negating important facts. Could you improve on it for the likes of Joe Bloggs?

No

 

[Bailey]

Unfortunately I am not aware of a more simple way of explaining it without negating important facts. Could you improve on it for the likes of Joe Bloggs?

It's clear enough - Unfortunately though In my reading style I somehow missed the word "IF" at the start

 

[websaway]

The phishers are going to love this.

barclaysco.uk

Doesn't look right to me, but the average joe is going to be confused.

interesting