Opis
What is .So?
dotSO is the Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for The Republic of Somalia. It was redelegated to The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MoPT) in April of 2009, and will be available to the public for Open Registration on April 1st, 2011.
As with other Registries, the .So opening is divided in various phases:
A Sunrise period is held for trademark holders, from the November 1st UTC 0 :00 until December 31th 2010 UTC 23 :59, to give applicants the opportunity to register their brands as .So names before the system is open to the general public. To be considered as part of the Sunrise Phase, the Trademark must be fully registered by January 1st 2010.
In order to facilitate the protection of your Trademark in the .So extension, the Registry as partnered with the Clearing House for Intellectual Property (CHIP). Domain Names submitted as part of the Sunrise Period will be checked against the trademark data given by the Registrant through the EuroDNS interface.
Standard Sunrise Registration Price is 75€. If you wish to Register several domain names based on the same trademark information, the validation fee decreases to 50€ for the second domain using the same trademark.
If you have obtained a CHIP code for a TM already validated in the Clearing House, the price decreases to 12€.
All Sunrise Prices are on top of a 3-years Registration fee of 132€
Sunrise Auction Period
The Sunrise is NOT operated on the basis of the first come, first served principle. Instead an Auction Period will open on January 17th 2011 where all credible Sunrise applications submitted during the Sunrise Period will be able to bid against the other Trademark Applicant.
Landrush Period
The Landrush Period was designed to allow companies and private individuals from all over the world to obtain the very '.SO' domain name they want in exchange of a premium fee. This specific period will begin January 17th, 2011 UTC 00:00 and end February 28th, 2011 UTC 23:59.
Landrush Auction Period
The Landrush is NOT operated on the basis of the first come, first served principle. Instead an Auction Period will open on March 14th where all identical .SO Domain Names applications submitted during the Landrush Period will be able to bid against an applicant for the same .SO Domain Name.
The Go-Live Period is open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis without any specific requirement. The Go-Live start on April 1st, 2011 UTC 00:00. Each domain name registration during Go Live costs 18€.
This document - which integrates EuroDNS' Terms & Conditions of Registration but does not wish to replace the Registry's official documentation available at http://www.registry.so - aims to answer your questions on the topic and help you understand the process more clearly.
Summary
1/ Schedule
Sunrise: from November 1st, 2010 UTC 00:00 to December 31th, 2010 UTC 23:59
Sunrise Auction: from January 17th, 2011
Landrush: from January 17th, 2011 UTC 00:00 to February 28th, 2011 UTC 23:59
Landrush Auction: from March 14th, 2011
General Availability Open: April 1st, 2011 UTC 00:00
2/ Fees
The following mandatory fees apply for validation of the Trademark through the IP Clearing House (www.IPClearinghouse.org)
Euro
Sunrise fee (Standard)
75.00 €
Sunrise fee (for existing TM)
50.00 €
Sunrise fee (with CHIP Code)
12.00 €
The Sunrise Period period require a three-years registration which costs 132€
Both Sunrise and Landrush Periods are subject to an auction handled by the Pool.com service which may lead to an increased end-fee.
The annual fee landrush and general availability is the same and set at 18€.
3/ General Rules
.So General Registrations are subject to the “First Come, First Served” principle.
.So Registrations are available to companies and individuals of each category without any restriction, except for Reserved and Restricted Names (http://www.soregistry.so/pdfs/dotSO_Reserved_Restricted_Premium.pdf).
Getting and using .So Domain Names is subject to specific conditions in addition to EuroDNS' Terms & Conditions. Registering one or more .So Domain Name implies full acceptance of those Terms.
4/ Disputes
Disputes on Domain Names Registered during the Sunrise Period are subject to specific Rules established by the .So Registry (http://SORegistry.So) and governed by WIPO’s UDRP principles (http://www.soregistry.so/pdfs/dotSO_Domain_Name_Registration_Policies.pdf)
I. Generalities
1/ General conditions to get '.So' Domain names
To obtain a .So Domain name from the .So Registry during the Sunrise Period, the applicant (you!) must submit Trademark information.
However there is no specific requirement to register a .So domain name after the Sunrise Period, except for Reserved and Restricted Names (http://www.soregistry.so/pdfs/dotSO_Reserved_Restricted_Premium.pdf).
For the avoidance of doubt as well as for any aspect the Sunrise process not covered in this document, the Registrant or Holder agrees that he/she has read and understood the official Policy Document provided by the .So Registry at: http://www.soregistry.so/pdfs/dotSO_Domain_Name_Registration_Policies.pdf
2/ What is the annual cost for a '.So' Domain name?
EuroDNS will charge its customers €18 per year for each .So domain name registered on their behalf through the .So Registry with a minimum term of 1 year
II Specific Situations - "Sunrise" period for Trademark holders
1/ What is the Sunrise Period
In order to protect companies and private individuals from abusive registration of .So. Domain names which would infringe on their Trademarks, the .So Registry created a period defined as "Sunrise" to enable holders of such rights to register the corresponding .So domain names on a priority basis. The "Sunrise" period is subject to a specific procedure and time restrictions, which will no longer apply for open registrations when the "Sunrise" period is over.
2/ How to benefit from the Sunrise Period
a) Principle
The Sunrise Period will last from November 1st 2010 to December 31th 2010. In order to be protected under Sunrise, the Trademark has to be registered in any worldwide trademark office/registry by January 1st 2010.
As a proof of such registration, Trademark holders must provide:
• The name or description of the trademark on which the Sunrise application is based;
• The country, region, locality wherein or the organization by whom the trademark has been registered ;
• The registration number of the trademark;
• The capacity of the Sunrise applicant (OWNER”, a “LICENSEE”, or an “ASSIGNEE)
b) Points to note
In order to be valid under the Sunrise, the Trademark must have been registered before January 1st of 2010.
For registered trademarks that contain spaces between textual elements, the spaces may be omitted or replaced by a hyphen. The resulting text will be considered an acceptable match with the registered trademark. For example, for a registered trademark that contains the text “A B C D”, the domains: “A-B-C-D.So”, “ABCD.So”, “AB-CD.So”, etc.
Punctuations and special characters in a registered trademark may also be omitted or replaced by hyphens. In the case of a sequence of punctuation or special characters, they may be eliminated or replaced by one or more hyphens. The resulting text will be considered an acceptable match with the registered trademark. For example “AB.So” will be considered an acceptable match for “A+B”, “A--B”, “A-B”; “A--B.So” will also be considered an acceptable match for “A==B”.
Punctuations and special characters may also be spelled out in full utilizing LDH (Letter Digit Hyphen) characters with appropriate word(s) describing the character. For example, “A+B” can be written as “AandB.So” or “AplusB.So”. Both will be considered an acceptable match. The appropriateness of the replacement word will be determined by the Validation Agents with additional information sought from the Applicant should further clarification be required.
Registered trademarks that contain elements beyond the LDH (Letter Digit Hyphen) repertoire as technically accepted by the DNS (without IDN provisions) may replace those characters withcorresponding LDH characters for which the additional element is removed or for which the characters are decoupled. For example, characters such as “ä”, “é”, “ñ”, “ø” “æ” or “œ”, may be replaced by “a”, “e”, “n”, “o”, “ae” or “oe” respectively. The resulting text will be considered an acceptable match with the corresponding registered trademark.
However, the following accented and combined characters commonly used in the Spanish language are permitted and do not have to be replaced, such as á é í ó ú ü and ñ.
The country in which the Trademark has been registered must be entered using the relevant Code (see https://www.wipo.int/scit/en/standards/pdf/03-03-01.pdf).
No documentary evidence will be asked of the Customer to support the Sunrise request, the accuracy of the data will be enough by itself in most cases. However, the Validation Agent may have to make a posteriori checks. In that case, you will be directly contacted by said Validation Agent through the email address you will have appointed for the Administrative Contact of your application.
3/ Costs
Due to its specific level of protection, Sunrise Registration is subject to an increased price, directly determined by the Registry. This is why the sunrise fee is non refundable.
4/ CHIP and Auctions
In order to facilitate the protection of your Trademark in .So, the Registry as partnered with the Clearing House for Intellectual Property (CHIP). Domain Names submitted as part of the Sunrise Period will be checked against the trademark data given by the Registrant through the EuroDNS interface. See www.IPClearingHouse.org for details
The Sunrise is NOT operated on the basis of the first come, first served principle. Instead an Auction Period will open on December 1st where all identical .SO Domain Names applications submitted during the Sunrise Period will be able to bid against an applicant for the same .SO Domain Name. See www.pool.com for details.
III. Registering a .So Domain Name
Go to the EuroDNS homepage - http://www.eurodns.com - and select ".So Domain Name". Input the domain name you wish to Register and the Period for which you wish to get it: Sunrise, Landrush or Go-Live. The costs for the Registration will be displayed in your cart, including the applicable setup fee for the elected period. You can modify your request or go directly to payment of the complete sum displayed on the page. Once the payment has been processed, your request will be dated and recorded in our system and in your EuroDNS Customer account area. It will then be transmitted the .So Registry, once the Registry opens for the submission of registrations. This submission will be made as quickly as possible reflecting the access limitations applied by the .So Registry, and the sequence in which your paid application was accepted on our Website..
We at EuroDNS are committed to support you throughout this important process, bringing you the highest quality of service. Be sure we will help you to make the most of your .So identity on the Internet.
Yours sincerely,
The EuroDNS Management Team