ASIA Sunrise Open

Sunrise Phase One completed: Com Laude submits 7% of all applications

Sunrise Phases 2b, 2c and 3 running from 13 November 2007 – 15 January 2008

Landrush to run from 20 February – 12 March 2008
.ASIA. a new domain for businesses and individuals with a connection to the Asia region launched in early October. During the four weeks of the first Sunrise Phase for IP owners, we submitted nearly 7% of the 15,000 applications received. Although applications are still being validated, we have been informed that we have achieved a success rate so far of 100% in terms of accuracy.

Here are 5 reasons why we believe all businesses and organisations that care for their IP should consider a .ASIA registration

1. The .ASIA region covers 73 jurisdictions from Turkey in the West to New Zealand in the East. The .ASIA initiative has been backed by governments, agencies and companies across ASIA. The commercial importance of a region with an estimated one quarter of the world’s population is hard to ignore. A .ASIA domain registration demonstrates your interest and commitment to Asia.

2. It is expensive and time consuming to register and maintain a portfolio of country code domains across just the major jurisdictions in ASIA – such as India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. Furthermore, many Asian registries restrict registration to locally incorporated organisations. A single .ASIA registration can be your presence across all these countries. Now you can even base an application under Sunrise Phase 3 on existing ccTLD registrations from the Asia region.

3. We expect that there will be over 5 million .ASIA domain names within 12 months, many of them registered speculatively with the aim of selling them on. Pre-emptive registration under .ASIA will protect your trade marks and company names. Recovering a domain name that exactly matches your intellectual property will be more expensive and time consuming than registering a .ASIA domain. Recovering confusingly similar names may be impossible.

4. It has been estimated that 33% of all internet users are based in the ASIA region though only 11% of .com and .net registrations owned by Asian inhabitants. If you do business in ASIA or care about the impact and integrity or your brands in the region, a .ASIA domain will help you to communicate effectively with your customers, clients and partners. We expect search engines and directories used by people in the ASIA region to prioritise .ASIA domains.

5. DotAsia Organisation wants your support! Anyone with a trade mark registered anywhere in the world can apply for a .ASIA domain name. You do not need to have a trade mark registered in the ASIA region provided you have an eligible local contact – and we can supply a proxy contact for you. All you have to do is tick a box on our application form!

If one or two of the above reasons have sparked your interest in obtaining a .ASIA domain for your business or client, go to our Resources Section to read our detailed Background to .ASIA which tells you all you need to know about the rules and application process plus the timescales and our prices.

Once you have read this document, which covers everything from the rules of eligibility to the auction process that will be used if there are multiple competing applications, go to our .ASIA Application Form.

We have designed a simple procedure featuring a Premium Service that guarantees that the verification agents for .ASIA will approve your application. All you need to do is to fill in our form and e-mail it back to us with your remittance. Then sit back and we do the rest.

For further information or to speak with one of our experts, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Ashley Roberts, our .ASIA co-ordinator, on +44 (0)20 7836 0070.

Com Laude is an accredited .ASIA registrar.