Rather than becoming a mature, stable industry, the domain name world is still a shifting target. The release of new top-level domains provides fertile ground for domainers and cybersquatters. Trade-mark owners and their lawyers scramble to keep up with the steady stream of developments. If the WIPO dispute resolution statistics are any measure, we’re heading into another period of intense activity, not seen since the days of the 2000 dot-com boom. In 2000 WIPO handled a record 1,857 domain name cases; that record looks like it will be surpassed this year.

On the Canadian front, CIRA is working on its revised WHOIS Privacy Policy, with implementation scheduled for March 2008.

Internationally, the following is the current list of generic top-level domains and their sponsors:

• The .aero domain is reserved for members of the air-transport industry and is sponsored by Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA).
• The .asia domain is restricted to the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific community and is operated by DotAsia Organisation.
• The .biz domain is restricted to businesses and is operated by NeuLevel, Inc.
• The .cat domain is reserved for the Catalan linguistic and cultural community and is sponsored by Fundació puntCat
• The .com domain is operated by VeriSign Global Registry Services.
• The .coop domain is reserved for cooperative associations and is sponsored by Dot Cooperation LLC.
• The .info domain is operated by Afilias Limited.
• The .jobs domain is reserved for human resource managers and is sponsored by Employ Media LLC.
• The .mobi domain is reserved for consumers and providers of mobile products and services and is sponsored by mTLD Top Level Domain, Ltd.
• The .museum domain is reserved for museums and is sponsored by the Museum Domain Management Association.
• The .name domain is reserved for individuals and is operated by Global Name Registry.
• The .net domain is operated by VeriSign Global Registry Services.
• The .org domain is operated by Public Interest Registry. It is intended to serve the noncommercial community, but all are eligible to register within .org.
• The .pro domain is restricted to credentialed professionals and related entities and is operated by RegistryPro.
• The .tel domain is reserved for businesses and individuals to publish their contact data and is sponsored by Telnic Ltd.
• The .travel domain is reserved for entities whose primary area of activity is in the travel industry and is sponsored by Tralliance Corporation.

The following are reserved for US government uses or international organizations:

• The .gov domain is reserved exclusively for the United States Government. It is operated by the US General Services Administration.
• The .edu domain is reserved for postsecondary institutions accredited by an agency on the U.S. Department of Education’s list of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies and is registered only through Educause.
• The .mil domain is reserved exclusively for the United States Military. It is operated by the US DoD Network Information Center.
• The .int domain is used only for registering organizations established by international treaties between governments. It is operated by the IANA .int Domain Registry.

Calgary – 10:35 MST