Three month countdown begins for third-level .UK domain owners to opt for .UK equivalent

Five year ‘Right of Registration’ reservation period ends June 25^th

26th March, OXFORD: .UK domain registrants with a third-level domain (.co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .plc.uk or .ltd.uk) are today reminded that they have less than three months left to secure the shorter second level (.uk) equivalent, before it is made available to the public.

The deadline closes at 05:00 UTC on the 25th June, the end of a five year ‘Right of Registration’ period set aside by Nominet in June 2014 to allow third-level domain registrants ample time to consider whether they would like to register their second-level equivalent.  

Those with .co.uk registrations before midnight on 28 October 2013 were given five years to decide whether to register the corresponding .uk ending as well as, or instead of, their existing registration.  If a .co.uk was not registered at that time, rights would have passed to the .org.uk then the me.uk domain. Registrants can check if they have rights at www.theukdomain.uk/do-i-have-uk-rights/

After the deadline closes, all previously reserved but unregistered domains will become generally available in July.

Of the original 10 million domains who had their rights reserved in June 2014, there are now 3.2 million domains that have not registered the corresponding shorter .uk equivalent. Over 2 million .uk domains have been registered.

Nominet and its registrars have been in touch with registrants over the course of the five year Right of Registration period, through direct contact, webinars, regular promotion and registrar initiatives.  

To remind rights holders of the deadline, an advertising campaign is planned for May.

Commenting on the Right of Registration entering its final three months, Eleanor Bradley, COO, Nominet, said: “We have given registrants a long period of time to consider their options. As the deadline approaches, an advertising campaign will remind rights holders that time is running out.  For some companies, they will really want to secure the shorter domain, for their own use, now or in the future, or to guarantee nobody else can use it. They need to take action quickly to avoid missing out.  Others are happy with the domain they have, and don’t want to register or use another.  It’s important to stress to those people that the existing domain will continue as normal, and no action is required.’  

It is a feature of the global domain name system that the same set of characters before the dot – known as the ‘string’ – can appear in names with different suffixes.  So for example, ilovedomains .co.uk  ilovedomains.org.uk and  ilovedomains.com might all be registered to different people. Ellie Bradley said; “In the vast majority of cases, very similar domains co-exist with no problems.  But for the rare cases where someone is abusing their domain or using it for illegitimate purposes, we have safeguards in place so action can be taken swiftly.”

For more information on the .UK domain name or to discuss with an expert please call 01908 200022.