Dreading squatters, top brands rush for 'dot.in'

The fear of cyber squatters is prodding top global and Indian companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Wrigleys and Amul to register for a .in (dot.in) domain name.

Uma Murali, president and CEO of Goodluck Domains, a dot.in registrar, said many companies have registered to ensure that their trademarks were protected.

Goodluck Domains handled the registration for Wrigleys and Bata, among others. The registration period for the general public opened on February 16.

However, a special "sunrise period" for corporates was open in the first three weeks of January. During that phase, the fear of cyber squatters led patent attorneys to start registrations for clients.

Attorneys constantly monitor the impact of different developments on their clients' trademarks. In the current situation, registrations were a prudent thing to do, felt Sudhir Raja Ravindran, CEO of Global Business Solutions, a consultant on intellectual property. "Litigation may be expensive," he added.

Registrations currently cost between Rs 600 and Rs 800, depending on the registrar used. The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), a company promoted by the government to facilitate improved internet services, provides a dispute resolution mechanism.

Arbitrartors would be appointed to solve registration disputes, said Amitabh Singhal, NIXI's acting CEO, at a press conference here today.

An inexpensive registration made at the earliest was the best protection against the risk of prolonged litigation. Some of the companies that have registered for their cot.in domain names are unlikely to use it to provide information.

Uma Murali said that in some cases companies that had a dot.in registration would re-direct traffic to their original websites.

While early registration may have protected some well-known companies from cyber squatters, a grey area remains. One key aim of the exercise is to make the domain names accessible in regional languages.

Uma Murali said that typically a registration in English should protect the registration name in all the languages. However, the issue has not yet been clarified.

The pace of overall registrations, both for corporates and individuals, has been faster than expected.

Singhal said that the original aim was to generate 200,000 registrations in six months. About 75,000 registrations have taken place in just five days, he added.