.me
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Introduced | 2007 |
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TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
Status | Active |
Registry | domain.me (doMEn) |
Sponsor | Montenegro Government of Montenegro |
Intended use | Entities connected with Montenegro |
Actual use | Trying to position itself for global use, and become a personal namespace like .name: can be registered and used for any purpose. |
Registration restrictions | None |
Structure | Second-level registrations available worldwide; third-level registrations under certain second-level names available within Montenegro |
Documents | Policies |
Dispute policies | Sunrise Policy, and UDRP |
Registry website | domain.me |
.me is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Montenegro.
This follows Montenegro's June 3, 2006 declaration of independence from Serbia and Montenegro, which used the code .yu.
The dot-ME top level domain replaced the dot-YU (Yugoslavia) domain previously used by Serbia and Montenegro. In addition to declaring .me independent of .yu, a new .rs domain is to be deployed for Serbian use.
The .me registry is operated by doMEn, which won a contract to do so after a bid process conducted by the government of Montenegro.
Introducing .me
ICANN resolved that .me be delegated to the Government of Montenegro,[1] with the former .yu domain to be operated temporarily by the .rs domain registry, Serbian National Register of Internet Domain Names, until its eventual abolition on or before 30 September 2009.
On 11 September 2007, delegation of root name servers was approved by IANA,[2] establishing .me. The .me domain became active on 24 September 2007 and a "Public Invitation for selection of the Agent for domain registration under the national Internet domain of Montenegro" was posted on 14 November. doMEn d.o.o. was selected as the new registry operator.
doMEn, d.o.o. is a Montenegro based joint venture (doing business as .ME Registry) whose partners are Afilias Limited, GoDaddy.com, Inc., and ME-net d.o.o.
May 6th, 2008 - .me Registry - General Sunrise began for all eligible Trademark holders anywhere in the world.
On July 16, 2008, registration was made available for all .me domains at various registrars.
.ME registry | ||
www.domen.me | .ME registry in Montenegrin | |
www.domain.me | .ME also go to ME.com registry in English | |
www.nic.me | Former .ME registry | |
Government of Montenegro | ||
www.me | Montenegro general information | |
www.gov.me | Government of Montenegro | |
www.szr.gov.me | Secretariat for Economic Development | |
University of Montenegro | ||
www.ucg.ac.me | University of Montenegro main site | |
www.cis.ac.me | Centre for Information Systems | |
www.etf.ac.me | Faculty of Electrical Engineering | |
www.ef.ac.me www.ekonomija.ac.me |
Faculty of Economics | |
www.pmf.ac.me | Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics |
Domain structure for .me
The .me extension was assigned to Montenegro as a country code after it became an independent nation in June 2006. However, the Montenegro government decided .ME would be operated as a generic name after considering the potential worldwide appeal for the extension. [3]
Registering .me domains is open for anybody. [4]
Third-level registrations are available to Montenegrin citizens and companies in the following zones:
- .co.me - unlimited registration, but appropriate for corporations
- .net.me - unlimited registration, but appropriate for providers of Internet services
- .org.me - unlimited registration, but appropriate for civil organizations and associations
- .edu.me - Educational institutions, such as primary and high schools
- .ac.me - Academic and post-secondary organizations such as universities; University of Montenegro has ucg.ac.me as its primary domain
- .gov.me - State and Government authorities
- .its.me or .priv.me - unlimited registration, but appropriate for personal use
Sun Rise, Land Rush & Open Reg
On 6 May 2008 .me Registry opened Sunrise period for all eligible Trademark holders anywhere in the world. Five domain names had multiple applications and were sold through the auctions. During the .ME Landrush auction period, more than two-million dollars was generated with names like Insure.Me and Sync.Me going to the highest bidder.
On July 16, 2008 registration was made available for all .me domains at various registrars.
Throughout June and July 2008 multiple Landrush applications were received, which resulted in more than 2500 Landrush auctions that were held during July and August 2008 after Go Live was opened on 17 July 2008.
At the beginning of August 2008 100,000 .me domain names were registered[5]. Sources say part of the worldwide appeal for the .me domain extension is the marketing aspect.
In 2008 in terms of the number of web pages indexed by Google among all TLDs, .me sites have enjoyed the fastest growth with more than 50% a month[6]. In the same year, .me topped its potential rivals .mobi and .asia in Alexa Internet top one million websites with 341 .me sites versus 233 .mobi sites and 86 .asia sites. Extra potential of .me is revealed considering the fact that .mobi was launched two years before .me and .asia four months before .me.
By the middle of February 2009 200,000 .me domain names were registered[7][8].
Known hacks
Most .me domain names were purchased as domain hacks in English, and few in Dutch languages. .me has seen its greatest interest among English speaking countries including the United States (71%), the United Kingdom (6%), Canada (4%), and Australia (2%)[9].
One of the most expensive domain sold during the Land Rush period was insure.me that went for $68,005. Shortly, it was followed by date.me, which was sold on the premium auction for $70,000 and love.me for $32,500.
In Dutch, only verb combinations were popular, as they made grammatical sense. E.g., reserveer.me, which can be translated as book.me, and repareer.me - repair.me. Most of the Dutch domains were sold outside the auction during the Go Live phase.
.me domains are also used by some companies and individuals to acronym Middle East and the U.S. State of Maine[10][11].
Trademark disputes
In 2008 three trademark cases were filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre. All three domain names, namely: creditmutuel.me, porsche.me, and exxonmobil.me were transferred to the complainants[12][13].
.cg.yu
Prior to introduction of .me, most used domain in Montenegro was second-level domain .cg.yu, Internet domain name of Montenegrin ISP T-Crnogorski Telekom. CG was made as an abbreviation of the name of Montenegro, Crna Gora. The domain was created as a top-level .yu subdomain, under nic.yu rules which allowed such domains only to Internet providers.
References
- ^ ICANN | Preliminary Report for Special Meeting of the ICANN Board of Directors | 11 September 2007
- ^ IANA .me whois information
- ^ (http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/071408_ME_Opens_Registration_on_July_17.cfm)
- ^ (http://buymedomains.com/2008/06/official-me-domains-landrush-now-open.html)
- ^ | .ME DOMAIN CROSSES 100,000 MILESTONE | August 5, 2008
- ^ Dot-Me blog: Number of .me pages enjoys the fastest growth in 2008 | January 3rd, 2009
- ^ | Global Sensation - .ME Hits 200,000 Registered Domains | February 10, 2009
- ^ | Dot Me Directory of 100,000+ domains | February 13, 2009
- ^ .ME in the News - .ME Domain Crosses 100,000 Milestone | 05.08.2008
- ^ Dot-Me blog: Middle East Ventures | January 7th, 2009
- ^ Dot-Me blog: The State of Maine | January 9th, 2009
- ^ WIPO UDRP Domain Name Decisions | 2008
- ^ Dot-Me blog: Porsche.me and the friends | October 24th, 2008