Domain Name Pain!
Yesterday I was speaking with a client about doing some product development and sourcing work in China, and heard that, following some prototype developments in Vietnam, they had just found out that some “enterprising” local had registered a local internet domain name on their brand.
But this is not just a problem for new businesses in Vietnam. It is also an issue for Big Business in China…
Google, the king of the internet, is reported to be having a domain name scrap with a cheeky / opportunistic Chinese company that registered (and is refusing to sell) www.gmail.cn – a rather obvious Chinese domain extension for the global leader, and owner of www.gmail.com.
China Law Blog covered the issue of domain squatting some time ago, and recommended early local domain registration.
Perhaps someone at Google should update their list of rss feeds!
For everyone else, perhaps now is a good time to book some of those .com.cn and .cn names before it is too late and / or a legal battle is needed.
See news source:
Gmail domain dispute looms for Google in China
Reuters India – Mumbai,India
Google’s China spokeswoman Jin Cui did not answer repeated calls to her cellphone. A spokesperson for Gmail.cn could not be contacted by telephone calls to …
March 2, 2007 at 2:18 am
Good tip. I read the same article and am rather puzzled why the Chinese Google.cn domain name owner refuses to sell. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that they want a lot of money for it, maybe more Google intends to pay.
Additionally when registering a domain I suggest not using Chinese Domain name registrars. Reason is that more paperwork is involved and if you ever want to transfer domains to another registrar you’re likely to have to pay a stiff additional fee. I have seen this happen.
Make also sure your domain name is registered to you or your company and don’t use a proxy.
There are several international domain registrars that give you the option to register .com.cn/cn etc domain names.
One last tip, keep domain registration separate from hosting. You want to be able to freely move and with a domain registered with your hosting company you have a chance to be locked in.
July 25, 2007 at 8:57 am
[…] ins a reminder to register relevant .cn / .com.cn domain names before it is too late. Some already missed the boat. See news source: China’s Mobile Users Rise Above 500 Million, […]