ARE .EU KEEPING UP WITH THE SMITHS (AND THE SCHMITTS) ?

It would appear to be this season's must-have - an .eu domain! In the first week of sales for the new .eu domain, over a 1.5 million domains have been registered which means that it has already established itself as the fourth largest top level domain in Europe.

The most popular domains in Europe - at present - are .de (Germany), .uk (United Kingdom) and .nl (Holland) and the incredible first week of sales leave it well on course to eventually become the second biggest top level domain name after .com, as widely tipped by a number of experts when plans to release .eu were first announced.

Presently .de is the second most popular domain globally so it has come as no surprise that the Germans roughly account for one third of all registrations since they were first launched on April 7th.

Prior to that date, applications were initially restricted to just trademark owners and public bodies in a 'sunrise' period but you can now apply, on a first-come, first-served basis for all other domains, providing of course, that you are based within the European Union.

At this stage, the 'sunrise' figures have not been counted in the total number of sales because some are still being audited and processed. It is expected their inclusion will push the figure much nearer to two million however it is not clear at this stage, how many applications were purely speculative but if early indications are anything to go by, then European internet users have taken kindly to the new domain which means there may be some value to any speculative purchases.

If you haven't already done so it is important you act now to protect your company's rights or any individual naming rights you have. For more information on .eu domains and if you would like our assistance to register one, please contact us on 0870 116 2420.