What is .TEL domain name extension?

A .TEL domain name can be used to store, update and publish all your contact information, web links and keywords directly on the internet under your own unique .tel domain. Simple, fast and accessible from any device, .tel aims to provides a new internet standard for users to take full control over how and where people reach you.

The .tel enables:

• integration of any and all means of communication (i.e. Phone numbers, IM, VOIP, email, social media)
• real-time publishing of your contact information on the internet
• full ownership of your published data
• protection of your private data, only viewable by people you authorize
• simple structured navigation to easily reach the most relevant information
• high speed global access optimized for mobile devices
• multi-language, search engine-friendly structured information and keywords

.Tel Sunrise Period
Duration: December 3, 2008 at 15:00 GMT through February 2, 2009 23:59 GMT
Terms: Registrations open only to trademark holders and owners. Sunrise rules will follow a first-come first-served basis. There will be no premium list placed on reserve for later auction.
Price: $359 for a mandatory three-term registration term. Fully refundable only if another application was submitted before yours and passed Validation.

.Tel Landrush Period
Duration: February 3, 2009 at 15:00 GMT through March 23, 2009 23:59 GMT
Terms: You can register any name, even if it’s not your own or your own company’s name. the golden time for cybersquatters to register premium domain names, which would later result in domain disputes and hefty settlements running into millions!
Price: $299 for a mandatory three-term registration term. Fully refundable if application is not successful.

.Tel Open Registrations
Date: March 24, 2009 15:00 GMT
Terms: Register any name you may want.
Price: $18/year with one year minimum term. Fully refundable if application is not successful.

Sunrise orders being accepted since October 15

Another domain dispute has been resolved by the intervention of UDRP.

Noted comedian, Jerry Seinfeld won control of the domain name JerrySeinfeld.com after his lawyers launched an appeal to get the control of the domain name from a company called Anything.com, which used the site to host little but advertisements.

I wonder how much money did Anything.com was able to make through the advertising on the website considering that Jerry Seinfeld has quite a following!

Anything.com has agreed to hand over the domain name that it had owned for ten years even before the dispute went to arbitration.

Domain disputes are on the rise! What else could you expect when the domaining industry is such a huge money spinner while being a low investment business!

Unscrupulous yet highly intelligent cybersquatters pick up premiuim domains related to any event or celebrities/businesses as soon as they get a whiff of something new and exciting comping up. 

Sample this:

The National Arbitration Forum, an international provider of alternative dispute resolution services, administered a total of 1,805 domain name disputes in 2007, up from 1,658 disputes in 2006. The National Arbitration Forum has been approved as a domain name dispute resolution program provider by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) since 1999.

The National Arbitration Forum reports at the end of 2007:

• UDRP domain names with common extensions like .com, .net, and .org accounted for 1,775 filings.
• usDRP domain names with the .us extension accounted for 30 filings.
• Of the 1,805 filings, Panelists heard 1,391 cases; parties worked together to settle many of the rest.
• There were 9,916 total domain name complaints filed since 1999.
• Of those filings, Panelists heard 8,006 cases; the parties settled many of the rest.

- PR-USA

I wish the practice of cybesquatting just disappears overnight. What a better place this world would be!

Hmmm… wishful thinking!