Co.no will be going live on July 4th 2012 ie. in two days time.
The operator for co.no was involved in a court case with the Norwegian domain registry (Norid), but won.
According to an email they sent to their partners this evening co.no domains will be activated at 10 am CET on July 4th.
Here’s the full release:
.CO.NO initiative compliance confirmed by Norwegian Court
Amsterdam, July 3rd 2012 – The South-Trøndelag District Court in Trondheim ruled on June the 28th in the court case 11-156571TVI-STOR that the CO.NO Operator had filed against Norid, the Norwegian Registry. In this ruling the Court confirms that the CO.NO initiative, founded by Elineweb AS, its registrant, and CoDNS, its Operator, fully complies with the .NO registration Policy and that Norid may not revoke the CO.NO domain name.
“We are glad that the Court recognizes that our business model is in line with the .NO registration Policy and thus, that our customers’ registrations are secured.” said Sander Scholten, CoDNS B.V., General Manager.
Furthermore, this decision also required Norid to refute the false information they published on the .CO.NO initiative and to inform the public and more specifically all .NO accredited registrars of the legality of the initiative.
“Only one business day has passed since Norid informed its accredited registrars of the Court decision and we have already received several inquiries regarding the .CO.NO Registrar accreditation process. We are confident that this ruling will reassure all interested parties that the .CO.NO initiative is sustainable.” added Scholten.
The Court however, did not invalidate Norid’s placement of the .CO.NO domain name on its so-called “reserved list for future category second-level domains” 8 years after its registration by Elineweb A.S.
The consequence of this decision is that the holder of the .CO.NO domain name is forbidden from transferring its ownership to any third party. “Our partnership with CoDNS B.V., being based on a long term relationship, this prohibition to transfer the domain co.no, has for sole consequence, if any, to publicly reinforce our partnership and commitment to the .CO.NO initiative.” commented Alexander Tvete, Elineweb A.S Managing Director.
.CO.NO Go Live to be held on July 4th, 2012
Now armed with this decision, the .CO.NO Operator is not willing to make .CO.NO prospective registrants and registrars wait any longer. The Operator is therefore currently reaching out to its network of more than 70 Registrars located all around the world to prepare for the general opening.
The Sunrise period for trademark holders, was successfully operated by Deloitte Belgium using the ClearingHouse for Intellectual Property, more than a year ago. All IP rights holders already hold the .CO.NO domain names which they are entitled to.
With the opening of .CO.NO registrations to the general public on a first come, first served basis, everyone will be entitled to secure their .CO.NO domain names without any requirement.
Additionally, all Landrush applications which were pending will now be activated and their holders will be able to benefit from their registrations as of today.
The Go Live will be held on July 4th ,2012 at 10:00 am CET and any interested party will be able to apply for the registration of .CO.NO domain names via their favourite registrar
Of course co.no isn’t a “proper” domain extension and is a subdomain, similar to co.nl and the “extensions” offered by Centralnic. Google and other search engines are unlikely to treat co.no in the same way that they would treat an actual .no domain name.
