EU Strategy Offers Alternative To '.com' and Counterweight To U.S. Internet Dominance
The European Union is launching its own Internet domain-name extension -- ".eu" -- to strengthen its image as a single market on the Web and to counter U.S. dominance of cyberspace.
Starting today, companies with a registered trademark or subsidiary in one of the 25 European Union countries can apply for domain names ending with .eu. It won't replace the existing European country code extensions, such as .de for Germany and .fr for France.
"We think this will be biggest domain-name extension after .com," said Jean Pire, senior partner with Gevers & Partners, a Belgian law firm specializing in intellectual property and one of the more than 400 approved registrars handling applications for the domain names. "It's the first time there is such an extension for an entire region."
The .com domain-name extension is by far the most popular, used in more than half the 85.6 million domain names world-wide, according to Verisign Inc., the company that manages the .com and .net registries.
The second-most popular is Germany's .de, which accounts for about 10% of the total, followed by .net with around 7%. Mr. Pire predicted the .eu extension -- to be used in a region comprising 25 countries and more than 450 million people -- eventually will capture around 25% of the market.
Some EU countries, as well as other nations, associate the .com name with the U.S.'s influence over the Internet resulting from the computer-communication network's inception in the U.S.
For U.S. companies with business in Europe, the .eu option theoretically could make things easier -- not unlike the thinking behind the adoption of the common currency, the euro, and the push to harmonize Europe's myriad rules and laws.
"You have to be French to get the .fr and Portuguese to get the .pt, among other restrictions, which is absolutely unfair because anyone is able to get a .com," said Michael Diz, co-founder and vice president of Meritline.com, a Los Angeles-based company that sells recordable DVDs and other electronics products. "So having the .eu will get all these country codes out of the way."
Mr. Diz said he is applying for 10 European domain names, including those similar to his company's moniker.
"We don't recommend that companies go out and register for a thousand different domain names," said Monica Richman, a trademark lawyer with Brown Raysman in New York. "But we think with such a big population behind it, that .eu will have marketing power."
The application process is being run for the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, by EURid, a private, nonprofit European group. The first phase, which runs until Feb. 6, is open to registered trademark holders and public bodies in Europe. The second phase lasts for the two months after that, and is open to family names and companies without registered trademarks. The process will be open to individuals beginning April 7.
Prices for .eu names could vary widely, depending on the perceived popularity of certain names. Registrars are free to set their own rates for initial and annual fees.
Conflicts over desired domain names will be resolved based on a first-come, first-served basis. As a result, some registrars are charging customers thousands of dollars to move up their position in the line.
欧盟将推出自己的互联网扩展域名
欧盟(European Union)即将推出自己的互联网扩展域名──“.eu”，来强化欧盟在互联网上作为统一市场的形象，抗衡美国在互联网领域的主导地位。
从周三开始，在欧盟25国中的任何一国拥有注册商标或子公司的企业，都可以申请以“.eu”结尾的域名。它不会取代现行的欧洲国家代码后缀，例如，“.de”代表德国，“.fr”代表法国。
“我们认为，这将是‘.com’之后使用最广泛的扩展域名。”比利时知识产权专业法律事务所Gevers & Partners的高级合伙人让?皮埃尔(Jean Pire)说。该事务所是欧盟核准的400多家处理域名申请事宜的登记机构。“整个欧盟地区使用同一个扩展域名，这还是有史以来的第一次。”
Verisign Inc.表示，截至目前，“.com”的使用范围最广，全球8,560万个域名中，一半以上都以此结尾。Verisign受理“.com”和“.net”的注册申请。
其次就是代表德国的扩展域名“.de”，占总数的10%左右；然后是“.net”，约占7%。皮埃尔估计，涵盖了25个成员国和4.5亿人口的“.eu”最终将占据25%左右的市场。
一些欧盟成员国，以及其他地区的国家，也都使用“.com”后缀。这是因为电脑网络萌生于美国，美国在互联网上也就相应地占据了主导地位。
对那些在欧洲开展业务的美国公司来说，选用“.eu”从理论上来说会让事情变得更容易，这可不像使用欧元或者应付欧盟纷繁复杂的规章条例那么麻烦。
“申请使用‘.fr’，你必须是个法国人；如果申请‘.pt’，那就必须是葡萄牙人，诸如此类。这绝对不公平，因为每个人都能申请‘.com’。”洛杉矶公司Meritline.com的共同创始人和副总裁迈克尔?迪兹(Michael Diz)说。该公司出售可转录DVD等电子产品。“所以，有了‘.eu’的话，那些国家代码就都用不著了。”
迪兹说，他正在申请10个欧洲域名，包括与自己公司名类似的域名。
“我们并不建议公司都去申请成百上千个不同的域名，”纽约商标律师莫妮卡?里奇曼(Monica Richman)说，“但我们也觉得，欧盟背后有这么多的人，‘.eu’会是一股强大的市场力量。”
域名申请由欧洲私营非营利团体EURid代表欧盟委员会(European Commission)受理。第一阶段到2月6日截止，面向欧洲的注册商标持有人和公共团体。此后的第二阶段为期2个月，面向没有注册商标的家族名称和公司。从4月7日开始面向个人。
“.eu”价格的变动幅度很大，取决于特定名称的公众知名度。注册登记机构可自行确定初次申请费和年费。
注册采用先到先得的原则来处理热门域名的抢注纠纷。为此，有些注册登记机构向客户收取上千美元的费用，把他们的注册顺序排名提前。
