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By Justin Madubuko, 24 August 2001 17:53

NEWS UK trademark holders have been slow to take up the new .info top-level domain name (TLD) during the Sunrise trademark registration period, accounting for only six percent of the worldwide total. Afilias, the registry selected by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to operate the .info TLD, released the first set of official metrics from its Sunrise period, stating that UK registrations accounted for just 11 per cent of the European total. The Sunrise period is an exclusive period of time for trademark and service mark holders to register their marks, after which the registration of .info domain becomes, opened to the general public. The UK companies that have registered their trade marks include the BBC, Boots the Chemist, Twinings, the Financial Times, Bass and Marks and Spencer. Roland LaPlante, VP and chief marketing officer at Afilias said in a statement: "It is a worry to see that UK companies are not taking full advantage of this opportunity to protect their trademarks on the internet. Early results from the first metrics have revealed that .info has a global audience. Of all registrations filed, the top three markets outside the US were Germany (20 per cent), Switzerland (seven per cent) and the UK (six per cent). The US accounted for 39 per cent of registrations. While the US as a nation accounted for the single largest percentage of .info registration, Europe as a whole accounted for the larger percentage of registrations, with 52 per cent, than North America with 40 per cent. There are so far 40,000 names registered in the Afilias registry. Trademark holders that have not registered during the Sunrise period have until midnight August 27 2001 to protect their brand. They can go to http://www.afilias.info to register through an online application process.