Amsterdam, 4 February 2009 – Following the successful .CO.NL Grandfather opening on November the 18th, the .CO.NL Operator is proud to announce its finalized Sunrise policy where any registered trademark actively using its .CO.NL domain name will get an automatic renewal for ten years.

The interest for .CO.NL has been on the rise during the first months of registration and trademark holders have shown great enthusiasm in this new international extension that offers them more visibility and flexibility. In response to brand holders’ concerns and questions, the .CO.NL operator has decided to innovate with an unprecedented Sunrise policy that will allow them to fully benefit from their domain name’s usage.

Sander Scholten, .CO.NL General Manager, explains “Research has shown that .CO.NL domains attract a lot of traffic from foreign countries such as, among others, the UK, India and Japan. The Sunrise period is a great opportunity for trademarks to capture this traffic while avoiding misuses of their brand. For additional protection, we are announcing today the details of our Sunrise Policy under which any trademark registered under .CO.NL and bearing a full-fledged website would get 10 years registration for free”.

Under the Policy, .CO.NL Domain Names registered under the Sunrise Period will be renewed for free and for ten years, providing the CO.NL Domain Names are active and allow access to a legitimate web site. .CO.NL names registered in the Sunrise Period will be automatically renewed by the Operator at the end of each year.

Scholten adds “This Policy was developed to allow brand owners to benefit from the additional traffic of a .CO.NL domain name with no extra step and at no extra cost. For trademark holders willing to protect their trademark and electing not to use their website actively, a regular registration fee will apply”.

The Sunrise phase will start on Tuesday February 10th 2009 at 10:00 am GMT. To allow .CO.NL users to benefit even more from the advantages  of the Sunrise Policy the phase has been recently extended and will last a full month ending on March 10th at 10:00 am GMT. This phase will provide applicants holding a registered trademark in any country with the opportunity to register their brands as CO.NL names before the system is open to the general public

The Landrush Period will be open to anyone without requirements of prior rights and allow customers to get their CO.NL domains sooner than in the general opening. It is also a great opportunity to get generic names before others want to. It will last from Tuesday March 17th 2009 at 2:00 pm GMT until Tuesday March 31st 2009 at 2:00 pm GMT

Finally, the Go Live period will open on Wednesday the 15th of April 2009 at 2:00 pm GMT. Application requests can be made by the general public without any restriction or priority rights, and will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.

Brand owners willing to take part in the .CO.NL Sunrise Period can choose between 50 of the leading Registrars worldwide, whose list can be accessed here: http://domain.co.nl/en/accredited-registrars.html. 

About the operator
The CO.NL Operator was established in 2007 to manage the registration of domains with the .CO.NL ending. The organization operates under the national TLD of Dutch registry SIDN but has no further ties to the foundation. The .CO.NL is directly operated from Amsterdam with the technical back-end of EuroDNS SA, a global Registrar of Internet Domain names.

Contact:
Sander Scholten
General Manager
CO.NL Operator
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