Coveted .me domains remain off-limits for the time being

From May 1, it will be possible for the first time to register domains with the Montenegrin suffix .me. The startup phase is complex and will go through several stages before domains will become freely available on a "first come, first serve" basis on 17th July. Even then, more than 3000 domains will remain off-limits.

The .me Registrar intends to allocate 2600 particularly desirable domain names at a later, as yet undisclosed date and is likely to put them up for auction. More than 400 further character sequences are reserved for the Montenegrin authorities and for the Afilias registry service itself, and won't become available to the general public.

Attractive domains like help.me, love.me or marry.me will initially not be available. Montenegrin residents and businesses will be allowed to apply for any unlisted and available variations directly under .me (second level) in the Montenegrin sunrise period between 1st May and 6th May, provided they registered a trademark which corresponds to the respective character sequence before 28th June, 2006.

The general sunrise phase, in which foreign companies holding trademarks are also allowed to apply, will be from 6th May until 20th May. Applications by residents and foreigners will be processed jointly. Domains which are only requested once are to be allocated by Afilias, and the registry will subsequently assign those domains. If there are several applications for the same character sequence there is an online auction with a minimum offer of $75 (about €48).

The land rush period, during which anyone can apply for .me domains, will start on 6th June. From 26th June, any domains which have been applied for several times will again be put to online auction. The open application process in which the faster applicant will be awarded the domain will only begin on 17th July.

Third level domains under net.me, org.me, co.me, its.me and priv.me will only ever be available to Montenegrin residents and companies. These domains can be applied for according to the "first come, first served" principle from 1st May. The edu.me, ac.me and gov.me domain areas are not handled by Afilias, but by the University of Montenegro.

In Montenegro, the .me top level domain replaces the .yu (yugoslavia) domain previously used by Serbia and Montenegro. In 2003, .cs had been allocated to the federation of Serbia and Montenegro, which has since been dissolved. As .cs used to be the domain level for Czechoslovakia, however, political protests ensued. In addition, there were fears about confusion in the Domain Name System and in databases. Therefore, .cs never went online. .yu domains could be registered until the end of last February.

On March 10, Serbian registry RNIDS publicly started allocating .rs domains via currently 34 registrars. Owners of .yu domains receive preferential treatment when they apply for the same .rs domain name. Those who own a cg.yu domain can secure the corresponding co.me domain name accordingly. CG stands for Crna Gora, Montenegro's name in its own national language. The .yu zone is to be continued for existing registrations at least until the end of September 2009.

(Daniel AJ Sokolov)

(trk)