Guide to Domain Name Registration
Edited by Eoin CostelloChairman, IIA Working Group on Domain Registration and Hosting
Domain Registration & Hosting Working Group members:
Claire Cunningham Aura Internet Michele Neylon Blacknight Michael Kelly Esat BT
Karen Hynes Enterprise Ireland Catherine Fagan HP
Conor Moran Irish Domains David Curtin IE Domain Registry Eoin Costello Novara.ie
Tom Kelly Netsource
Michael Murphy Senior College Dun Laoghaire
This document is Copyright © 2005 to the Irish Internet Association (IIA). You may reproduce the entire document, or sections of it, in its original form provided that a source credit is provided.
Foreword
The Domain Registration & Hosting Working Group comprises 10 members representing a broad cross section of the Irish hosting and internet industry.
Our work programme includes the following:
• Issue a guide to domain name registration.
• Issue a guide to selecting a web hosting package and a web-hosting provider.
• Make recommendations to the IE Domain Registry on how the introduction of the registry/accredited registrars system for .ie domains may be effected in Ireland to ensure competitive pricing for .ie domain registrations.
• Make written submissions to relevant bodies on matters affecting the hosting industry such as upcoming legislation on Data Retention.
• Draft a Code of Practice for the domain registration and hosting industry in Ireland.
With regards to this Guide to Domain Name Registration it is intended as a beginners guide to the area of domain name registration. Advice given in this guide does not constitute legal advice.
Thanks to the input of the members of the Working Group. Also thanks for the contributions from Domains for Beginners, the IE Domain Registry, ICANN and John McCormack of Whois Ireland. All content is included with the permission of the respective owner.
I hope you find our guide useful and if you have any suggestions for future versions please contact me at
eoin@novara.ie
Executive Summary
The Internet is now a part of our everyday lives. The first step to having an Internet presence is registering a domain name. Your domain name is a valuable piece of your company’s property with its value increasing everyday as more and more people move to transacting business online.
In this guide we have focussed on .ie and .com domain names as statistics show these to be Ireland’s most popular domain extensions. According to research carried out by Whois Ireland there are approximately 70,000 .com domains and 47,000 .ie domains registered by Irish people and companies.
.com domains operate on a first come first served basis, if the domain is available you can register it with no need for paper work proving your entitlement. The procedure for registering .ie domains is different to that of .com domains. Domains with the .ie extension are assigned by the IE Domain Registry (www.iedr.ie) once you have provided supporting information showing you are entitled to the domain name you are applying for.
When contemplating registering your domain name you need to watch out for a couple of key potential issues namely:
1 Check that your registration provider is accredited: buying from a reputable provider ensures that you have an open line of communicating should any difficulties arise in respect of your domain name. 2 Cyber squatting/lapsed domains: You can often find that a domain that closely corresponds with your
company identity has already been taken by a third party. This can arise in two situations, the third party got there before you or the third party grabbed your domain because you let it lapse.
3 Check your ownership post registration: It is essential that your ownership of the domain name is correctly recorded.
4 Bogus Renewal notifications: Unethical domain registration companies regularly send renewal invoices that can mislead people into thinking that they need to renew their domain with that company rather than their current provider.
5 Domain transfers: Registrars are not permitted to deny transfer requests arbitrarily however many make it an extremely difficult process.
Introduction
Each web site on the internet has a numeric address that functions like coordinates on a map. Instead of pointing to a geographic location on earth, these numeric addresses, called IP addresses, point to a
geographical location on the Internet. Computers have no problems with locating and remembering numeric addresses. In contrast, most humans have trouble remembering long complicated sequences of numbers. So, to make surfing the web easier, the domain name system was invented. This system allows people to use easy to remember names for web sites instead of those number sequences.
The standard domain name consists of three parts:
• Second level domain
• Root (the "dot")
• Top level Domain
Arranged as follows: second level domain.root.top level domain
So, if your second level domain is second-leveland you choose the ".ie" for it, then, when you add the "root," your domain name is second-level.com
So, in short, a domain name is nothing more than a three-part alias for a numeric web address.
Domains are broken down into:
Generic Top Level Domains(tld’s) such as .com, .org, .net etc
Country specific Top Level Domains (cctld’s) such as .ie, .us, .es etc.
Where to buy your domains?
We strongly recommend that you purchase you domains from reputable companies. In the past unfortunate members of the public have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous operators. If things go wrong with non .ie domain extensions retrieving your domain can be almost impossible in some situations. When considering whom to purchase from bear in mind that all members of the Irish Internet Association are bound by a code of conduct requiring the observation of high professional standards.
Current members of the IIA providing domain registration services can be found by going to the IIA website, clicking on Members and selecting ISP from the Industry Sector drop down menu.
.com domain names
.com domains operate on a first come first served basis, if the domain is available you can register it with no need for paper work proving your entitlement. Thus, anyone can register a .com, .net or .org domain. In fact, many companies now register all three domains in order to truly secure their web identity.
How do I register my own domain name?
In order to obtain a domain name, you must have it registered with a Registry authorized to issue and license domain names. Domain names can be registered through many different companies (known as "registrars") that compete with one another. A listing of ICANN accredited registrars can be found at
www.icann.org. Each ICANN accredited registrar will have hundreds if not thousands of resellers.
The registrar you choose will ask you to provide various contact and technical information that makes up the registration. The registrar will then keep records of the contact information and submit the technical information to a central directory known as the "registry." This registry provides other computers on the Internet the information necessary to send you e-mail or to find your web site. You will also be required to enter a registration contract with the registrar, which sets forth the terms under which your registration is accepted and will be maintained.
Before a domain can be actively used for mail or web hosting it must be programmed into at least two special internet connected computers which are known as name servers. Name servers act as directories and tell other internet users where the web space associated with a domain name is precisely located on the Internet. An example of the typical set of nameservers is:
ns1.nameserver.com ns2.nameserver.com
Most registrars provide clients with a fully automated service that will handle this registration process for you. Once the Registry announces that your domain name has been registered, it usually takes a couple of days before it shows as being registered on the domain search tools you find all over the internet.
Current members of the IIA providing domain registration services can be found by going to the IIA website ( www.iia.ie), clicking on Members and selecting ISP from the Industry Sector drop down menu.
How can I know whether a domain name has already been registered?
This information is publicly available, go to www.betterwhois.com for .com domains and http://www.iedr.ie/ for .ie domains. Type in the domain name in which you are interested, click on the "Search" button and the results are shown if the domain is already registered.
Do I own the domain name that I've registered?
Legally, you only own a right to use the domain for as long as you pay the annual renewal fees - you do not gain title to it. However, for all practical purposes, the end result is the same. As long as the name has nothing to do with someone else's trademark or legal right to own the name, you essentially own the domain name that you registered.
Anyone challenging your right to the domain would have to prove ALL of the following 3 conditions:
1. The domain is misleadingly similar to a protected name in which he/she (The Complainant) has rights
AND
2. You (The Registrant) have no rights in law or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name
AND
3. The domain name has been registered (or is being used) in bad faith.
An international panel of arbitrators would make a judgement on the complaint. The judgement is binding, but may be subsequently challenged in the courts.
.ie Domain Names
The procedure for registering .ie domains is different to that of .com domains.
Domains with the .ie extension are assigned by the IE Domain Registry (www.iedr.ie) once you have provided supporting information showing you are entitled to the domain name you are applying for.
Unlike .com, where at most 73% of domains are active, a recent survey by WhoisIreland.com of .ie domains found that over 92% are in use. With recent IEDR developments making it easier and faster to register .ie domains, the .ie top level domain is now more attractive to business users.
Information supporting your application is still required but the time between submitting documents and your .ie domain going active is now down to hours. With a Registered Business Name number or company name number from the Companies Registration Office (www.cro.ie), or a Registered Charity number, the whole process of registering a .ie domain can be paper free.
Please find below a guide to registering a .ie domain name kindly supplied by the IE Domain Registry(IEDR for short).
Guide to registering .ie domain names
How to register
Quick guide to registration Top 5 Errors with .ie applications
How to register
The IEDR recommends that you to make your application through a registered .IE Reseller. It is generally cheaper to register your .ie through a Reseller than directly through the IEDR. They will provide you with the necessary nameserver information needed for application.
Current members of the IIA providing .ie domain registration services can be found by going to the IIA website, clicking on Members and selecting ISP from the Industry Sector drop down menu.
However if you wish to make the application directly through ourselves we will be very happy to oblige you.
If you decide to buy your domain name directly from the IEDR rather than through an accredited reseller please follow the procedure below.
There are 4 steps to applying to the IEDR directly to register a .ie Domain Name:
Make sure your chosen Domain Name is not currently registered by checking the IEDR search facilities.
Read the Quick Guide to Registration Policy below to ensure that you can provide information showing your claim to the proposed domain name.
Arrange Domain Name Hosting through an ISP or Hosting Company;
Quick Guide To Registration Policy Category types:
Personal Name Corporate Name
Registered Trade Mark Name Registered Business Name State Agency Name Publication Name School Name Politician's Name
Unincorporated Association Name Personal Trading Name
Discretionary Name
IMPORTANT NOTE:All applicants applying for a .ie domain name who are not situated in the 32 counties, must demonstrate a Real and Substantive Connection with Ireland (with the exception of those applying with a registered Community Trademark)
Examples of acceptable documentation demonstrating substantial trade or commercial activity within Ireland are as follows:
• Copies of invoices (showing trade to or from Ireland)
• High-quality brochures
• A signed letter on headed paper from a bank manager, firm of chartered accountant(s), registered auditor(s), tax consultant(s) (where the tax advisor identification number is displayed), or solicitor(s) confirming the applicants trade with Ireland.
Personal Name:
A copy of the applicants’ passport, driving license or birth certificate is required. Applicants applying under this category can register only their initials with a number of their choice e.g. John Citizen can apply to register jc1.ie.
More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/PersonalName
Corporate Name:
We simply require the registered company number to be supplied in the remarks field of the application form.
More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/CorporateName
Registered Trademark Name:
We require the Registered Trademark number (Irish, Community, British or American only) to be entered in the remarks field of the application form. All other Trademark holders must submit a copy of the Trademark certificate.
Registered Business Name:
We simply require that the Registered Business Name number is entered in the remarks of the application form.
More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/RegBusName
State Agency Name:
No documentation is required provided that we can verify the applicant is a Statutory Body. More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/StateAgencyName
Publication Name:
Documentation proving the applicant is the owner of the publication e.g. A faxed copy of the page from the publication where the writer or publisher is clearly stated. In the case of Ezine publications, simply provide the link to the online publication.
More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/PublicationName
School Name:
If the Educational Institution is recognised by the Department of Education no supporting information is required. Otherwise a letter on the applicants headed paper will suffice.
More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/SchoolName
Politicians Name:
A signed letter, on official letterhead, from the politician confirming their eligibility to register a domain name in this category.
More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/PoliticiansName
Unincorporated Association Name:
A self-issued letter from the applicant on the association's letterhead stating that they are an Unincorporated Association and require the domain name to reflect their organisation's name. More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/UnincorpAssocName
Personal Trading Name:
A letter from the applicant's solicitor, accountant or bank manager confirming that the applicant trades under their own name.
More Details - http://www.domainregistry.ie/PersonalTradingName
Discretionary Name:
We require a detailed letter from the applicant outlining their claim on the proposed domain name. If the applicant is a registered company or has a registered business name, please supply the registered numbers within the letter.
Top 5 errors with .ie applications:
1 Incorrect contact details – always ensure the admin contact is a person from the Domain Holder organisation and their contact details are accurate.
2 Supporting information missing - always include the required company (CRO), business (RBN), trademark (™) or charity (CHY) numbers in the remarks field of the application form.
3 Claim to domain unclear – If there is no obvious connection between the applicant and the domain being applied for, we will require information from the applicant showing their connection to the domain name.
4 Nameservers not set-up – If we cannot verify that the domain is recognised by the nameserver, the domain cannot be assigned.
5 Connection to Ireland unclear – If the applicant is not Irish we will require that they show a connection to Ireland as listed below.
• Copies of invoices (showing trade to or from Ireland),
• High-quality brochures showing a significant intention to trade in Ireland.
• A signed letter from a bank manager, chartered accountant(s), registered auditor(s), tax consultant(s), or solicitor(s) confirming the applicants trade with Ireland.
Top 5 things to watch out for in domain registration
Check that your registration provider is accredited Cyber squatting/lapsed domains
Check your ownership post registration Bogus Renewal notifications
Domain transfers
Check that your registration provider is accredited
1. Check that your registration provider is accredited by the IEDR ( see http://www.iedr.ie/ListResellers.php) and is an official reseller of an ICANN accredited registrar. Furthermore membership of the IIA and/or other relevant industry associations such as the ISP Association of Ireland, INEX, Irish Software Association or the Chamber of Commerce should be a guide to the bona-fides of the registration provider.
Cyber squatting/lapsed domains
You can often find that a domain that closely corresponds with your company identity has already been taken by a third party. This can arise in two situations, the third party got there before you or the third party grabbed your domain because you let it lapse.
The remedies that are available to you in this situation are:
1. Where the domain name has just lapsed as a consequence of your oversight, making a written request to the relevant Registrar to re-instate your domain name registration. Sometimes it is also possible to successfully argue that the new registrant is not entitled to the registration under the terms of the relevant registration policy. This can in some circumstances be a practical and efficacious first step.
2. Writing to the third party domain name holder asserting rights in a trade mark or trade name which is identical or similar to the domain name and attempting to negotiate the domain name's transfer to yourself.
3. Making a complaint under the appropriate domain name dispute resolution procedure - for example if a .com domain name then under the UDRP(for more information see www.icann.org ) and if a .ie domain name then under the .ieDRP (http://www.domainregistry.ie/DisputeRes.php).
4. Bringing legal proceedings against the domain name registrant on the basis of prior rights to an identical or similar trade mark or trade name - depending upon the jurisdiction in which the registrant and the domain name server is based these proceedings may claim passing off, trade mark infringment, breach of statutory rights such as the Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act in the USA or some type of unfair
competition remedy.
You should seek specific legal advice before embarking on steps 2,3 or 4 as otherwise you may prejudice your chances of success.
Check your ownership post registration
It is important that your agent records your contact details accurately in the Registrant and Administrator field. To check that this has been done correctly go to go to www.betterwhois.comfor .com domains and
http://www.iedr.ie/ for .ie domains. 24 hours after the registration was successfully completed enter your domain name for a full listing of the contact details for your domain.
It is particularly important to ensure that the Admin contact email address is your own/your company’s email address. If at some point in the future you need to transfer the domain to another registrar the Admin contact email address plays a critical role in the transfer process as the authorisation email for a transfer is sent to the Admin contact email address.
Impersonation (Bogus Renewal notifications/scare tactics)
Information about who is responsible for domain names is publicly available to allow rapid resolution of technical problems and to permit enforcement of consumer protection, trademark, and other laws. The registrar will make this information available to the public on a "Whois" site.
The downside of this is that it is possible for unethical domain registration companies to exploit this information. The most common exploit is the bogus renewal notification and the most infamous company for this practice is "Domain Registry of Canada"/"Domain Registry of America".
Such companies send renewal notices through regular post in an envelope and on stationary intentionally designed to appear to be an official
government notice.
These letters cause a great deal of confusion among legitimate domain name holders. You absolutely should not send any money to in order
to renew your domain to such a company and should refer such correspondence to your actual provider. Refer to the whois service of the relevant registry to confirm who your provider is (www.betterwhois.com for .com domains and http://www.iedr.ie/ for .ie domains ). Their contact details will appear in the Registrant field. Alternatively we at the IIA are happy to give advice in these circumstances.
Also beware pressurised and scare sales tactics of companies selling domain registrations. What typically happens is that you receive a phone call from a representative stating that they are aware that a third party has placed an order for a variation of your company domain and that they can offer it to you for a high price to prevent the supposed third party getting it.
If you feel that you have been the victim of such an operation immediately contact your credit card company and stop the transaction. Furthermore please report the matter to us at the IIA.
In all cases where unsolicited contact is made by email or phone using such tactics you should contact the IIA or a reputable domain registrar or your own current hosting provider and certainly not part with any money in advance of getting independent advice.
Domain transfers
If you're having trouble transferring your domain from one registrar to another, you should contact the registrar you want to transfer to for assistance. If your preferred registrar is having any trouble processing your transfer, they can obtain assistance from ICANN.
Registrars are not permitted to deny transfer requests arbitrarily. ICANN dictates that that the losing registrar can only block a transfer if the domain is involved in any of the following situations:
a. Evidence of fraud
b. UDRP action
c. Court order
d. Reasonable dispute over the identity of the Registrant or Administrative Contact
e. No payment for previous registration period
f. Express written objection from the Registrant or Administrative contact.
In any case where a "losing" registrar does deny a transfer request, it is required to provide the "gaining" registrar with a notice of the denial and a specific reason for the denial.
A new complication to the matter of non .ie domain transfers is the Domain Locking facility. For good reason many registrars now lock domains to prevent unauthorised transfers. Domain locking prevents any changes to the details of a domain including nameservers and ownership. However when a domain needs to be legitimately transferred this lock needs to be removed thus causing potential hold-ups.
As the transfer of .ie domains relies on written authentication, problems rarely occur with .ie transfers. The important thing to check is that the administrative contact on record at the IEDR is still with the company. If not a new admin contact will have to be nominated before the transfer can go ahead. An admin contact for a .ie domain can perform a transfer of domain at any time in the life of the domain, without the possibility of the transfer being blocked by a registrar.
One final piece of advice on domain transfers. If you have registered a .biz,.info or .org domain name get and keep the EPP key for the domain as this is required when seeking to transfer the domain.
Appendix
What are the rules for registration for other top level domains?
We have dealt with .ie and .com domains in detail up to now. The following un-sponsored top-level domains are open and unrestricted (.biz, .info, .name, .net, .org, and .pro names). Traditionally, however, most names are intended or reserved for specific use, as listed below. For more information visit the Registry websites listed below.
• The .biz domain, operated by NeuLevel, Inc., is restricted to businesses.
• The .com domain, operated by VeriSign Global Registry Services, is a generic top-level domain originally intended for commercial businesses around the world.
• The .info domain, operated by Afilias Limited, is an unrestricted domain for websites containing information about you, your organization, your products or any other information you'd like to make available to a global audience.
• The .name domain, operated by Global Name Registry, is reserved for individuals.
• The .net domain, operated by VeriSign Global Registry Services, is a generic top-level domain used by many types of organizations and individuals globally; it was historically intended for and is still commonly used by Internet service providers.
• The .org domain, operated by Public Interest Registry, is unrestricted, but was intended to serve the noncommercial community.
• The .pro domain, operated by RegistryPro, is restricted to certified professionals and related entities.
• You will recall from sections 3 and 4 that .ie domains are restricted to those showing a real and
substantive connection to Ireland, whereas .com domains are unrestricted, and available for registration to anyone globally.
Glossary of Terms
Nameservers: Sometimes called a "host." A computer (server) that has both the software and the data (zone files) needed to resolve domain names to Internet Protocol (IP) numbers. Domain names must be programmed into a minimum of two nameservers hosted on separate networks. HowStuffWorks.com has an excellent article about How Domain Nameservers Work.
DNS:A distributed database of information that is used to translate domain names, which are easy for humans to remember and use, into Internet Protocol (IP) numbers, which are what computers need to find each other on the Internet. People working on computers around the globe maintain their specific portion of this database, and the data held in each portion of the database is made available to all computers and users on the Internet.
Domain name: In short, a domain name is nothing more than an alias for a numeric web address. Each web site on the internet has a numeric address that functions like coordinates on a map. Instead of pointing to a geographic location on earth, these numeric addresses, called IP addresses, point to a geographical location on the Internet. Computers have no problems with locating and remembering numeric addresses. In contrast, most humans have trouble remembering long, complicated sequences of numbers. So, to make surfing the web easier, the domain name system was invented. This system allows people to use easy to remember names for web sites instead of those number sequences.
UDRP:All registrars in the .biz, .com, .info, .name, .net, and .org top-level domains follow the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (often referred to as the "UDRP"). Under the policy, most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration before a registrar will cancel, suspend, or transfer a domain name. Disputes alleged to arise from abusive
registrations of domain names (for example, cybersquatting) may be addressed by expedited administrative proceedings that the holder of trademark rights initiates by filing a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution service provider.
ICANN: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.
ICANN is also responsible for accrediting the domain name registrars. "Accredit" means to identify and set minimum standards for the performance of registration functions, to recognize persons or entities meeting those standards, and to enter into an accreditation agreement that sets forth the rules and procedures applicable to the provision of Registrar Services.
IEDR:The IEDR is the registry for .ie Internet Domain Names and maintains the database of .ie registered Internet names.
The IEDR is an independent not-for-profit organisation that manages the .ie country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) namespace in the public interest of the Irish and global Internet communities.
Whois:A searchable database maintained by the registrar, which contains information about networks, networking organizations, domain names, and the contacts associated with them for respective domains. Also, the set of rules that describes the application used to access the database.
Administrative Contact
The administrative contact is an individual authorized to interact with the registrar on behalf of the domain name registrant. The administrative contact should be able to answer non-technical questions about the domain name's registration and the domain name registrant. It is strongly recommended that the administrative contact be the registrant or someone from the registrant's organization.
ccTLD
country code Top Level Domain. Also referred to as non-US ISO country codes. TLDs in domain names which reflect a specific country, such as .ie (Ireland) .co.uk (United Kingdom), .co.jp (Japan), .com.tw (Taiwan), et cetera.
gTLD
generic Top Level Domain. In the US, gTLDs used to describe organizational and political structures and are usually given three-letter names. Over the past few years, a number of these gTLDs have become "unrestricted", i.e. anyone can register a domain in that gTLD.
IP Address
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember IP addresses are numerical, often 32-bit addresses that are expressed as four numbers between 0 and 255, separated by periods, for example: 216.168.224.69 For more information, HowStuffWorks.com has an easy to comprehend article on How IP Addresses Work as a part of its larger article on How Domain Name Servers Work.
