At present, all Scottish internet users faced with completing a website’s “Sign Me Up” registration form have little choice but to identify themselves as inhabitants of the United Kingdom. This is because the drop-down lists of countries that are used by nearly all websites have failed to keep up with devolution and so do not distinguish between individual parts of the UK. So, whilst Burkina Faso, Buvet Island, Malta and Togo each have an internet identity of sorts, Scotland and Wales do not.
However, this may be about to change. The Welsh Assembly has just approved a grant of £20,000 to enable the establishment of a Welsh national body that will administer the issuing and use of a new, Welsh, national domain name (“.cym”). This follows the decision of the domain name regulatory body, ICANN, to free up large numbers of domain names as from June 2008. Other possible domains might include “.paris” or “.eng”.
Draft rules for applying to run one of the new domain names are expected by the end of 2008. The first applications are expected in early 2009. It costs about $100,000 to become eligible to run a new domain name. Applicants will have to convince ICANN that they are capable of running a registry and also that the chosen domain name does not lead to confusion.
The grant has been made to the “Dot.cym Campaign” (www.dotcym.org). The Welsh Government’s position contrasts to that of the Scottish Government – which appears presently to have no position. A solitary website supporting the establishment of a Scottish domain name does exist (www.dotscot.org) but this seems to be a holding page linking to an email address and somewhat less than the highly organised Welsh campaign.
bto’s Technology & IP team will attempt to discover the Scottish Government’s position on a “.scot” or even an “.alba” domain name and report back in the next edition. Watch this space!
bto’s Technology & IP team regularly advises on legal issues arising from domain names such as passing-off, trade marks, registrations, domain transfers and sales.
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Paul Motion