.eu internet registration to start in October
By Lisbeth Kirk
After more than seven years of preparation, European companies and individuals can soon start to pre-register new .eu internet domain names.
During a four-month so-called sunrise period, expected to start in October, companies with registered national and EU trademarks, public bodies and those with rights acquired by use will have the exclusive right to gain the domain name equivalent to their trademark, writes UK daily, The Times.
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But experts fear costly legal disputes may occur because trademarks can be registered in different sectors. For example, a food company and a building company in Europe could have the same trademark, according to the paper.
So far, 200 registrars across Europe have been appointed by the European Commission to allocate the new domain name while EURid, a consortium of Belgian, Italian and Swedish organisations will operate as the .eu registry.
The commission, which is conducting the whole process, hopes to create a new "Internet space" for Europe, as opposed to domains such as .com or .org, mainly registered in the US and bound by its laws.
The EU institutions themselves are likely to sign up to the new domain name, allowing them to drop the .int domain they currently use.
The European Parliament would therefore become www.europarl.eu and the European Commission, www.europa.eu
