A domain name for professionals begins its sunrise period

By Alun Williams

Posted on 24 Apr 2003 at 17:20

Doctors and lawyers and accountants take note: a domain name for professionals begins its life.

'The Internet for Professionals' is the slogan of RegistryPro, the registrar that manages the new .Pro domain (note the uppercase 'P'). You can find them at registrypro.pro, suitably enough.

A sunrise period has just been launched for registrations for the top-level domain (TLD). The grace period lets registered trademark holders reserve their marks in the .Pro TLD. It is intended to help avoid subsequent 'cyber-squatting' disputes where domain names are contested.

After this period of time - expected to run until July - registrations will be publicly available. Or rather, to the professionals among the general public. Possible examples include 'johnsmith.law.Pro' and 'johnsmith.med.Pro'.

Initially available in the States, you can read about the details of registration here and eligibility policies here. The cost of a professional address begins from $500.

'RegistryPro is excited to be offering professionals a unique and exclusive space on the Internet for secure online communications,' said Timothy Gelman, Chief Executive Officer of RegistryPro. 'RegistryPro's Sunrise Period will provide registered trademark holders worldwide with the opportunity to protect their brand name across current and potential future profession-specific domain strings within the .Pro domain extension.'

The .Pro was one of seven new domains sanctioned by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) back in November 2000 - New top-level domain names announced. The domains were .biz, .info, .name, .Pro, .museum, .aero. and .coop.

Among the domains that were rejected were .xxx, .kid and .iii.

See also:

 Internet Domains (domain names and a top-level view)

 Internet Domains (DNS and a bottom-level view)