Sunrise reveals new Hong Kong domains

In October, Hong Kong’s domain registry launched a brand new series of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) in the .hk country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD). The seven new domain-types, covering categories such as businesses, charities and government departments, are: .hk; .com.hk; .net.hk; .org.hk; .idv.hk; .gov.hk; and .edu.hk.

In the initial Trademark Sunrise period, which began on 28 September and will finish on 10 November, eligibility is set for owners of Hong Kong-registered trademarks that feature one or more Chinese characters. Each applicant will also be required to provide a copy of their Certificate of Trademark Registration, issued by the Hong Kong Trademarks Registry, and a letter of declaration confirming their ownership of the Hong Kong trademark in question. In the likely event of multiple owners applying for the same domain name, the winning applicant will have an English/ASCII domain in the same category. In this case, the candidate whose mark bears the earliest registration date will be preferred. If there is still no final result at this stage, a random draw will decide.

In the Grandfather Sunrise period, due to start on 4 December and continue until 5 January 2007, the scope for registration and protection will widen, as owners of English/ASCII domain names will be eligible to apply for equivalent Chinese IDNs in the same categories. Competition between multiple applicants will again be decided by awarding holders of English/ASCII domain names in the same categories with the earliest registration dates. All applicants will be required to provide details of the English/ASCII domain names upon which their new IDNs will be based.

During the third, Soft Launch stage – open to any company or organisation from 29 January to 9 February 2007 – winning applications will be decided by a random draw.

For further information about overseas domain names or to register your brands as IDNs under any of the .hk extensions, contact domains@cpaglobal.com.