Geographical Naming Policy and IEDR

Dagmar

Hi,

I run a couple of web sites which use domain names that are 'Reserved Geographical Names' according to the lists maintained by the IEDR. Does anyone have experience of using such domain names?

I have an agreement to use the domain from the local County Council but they don't appear to publish any guidelines. I feel that my using these domains is entirely up to the officer and that they judge an application on a case by case basis with no clear policy.

I realise I could be wrong on this but I wonder if people here have experience from other parts of the country? I'm in the Munster region.

All the best ~ Dave

CoNfOuNd

It is very much case by case, but if you are registering the domain on behalf of the County Council, or with their permission, then I think the IEDR should accept the application.

mneylon

The best way to do it is to get the domain registered to the local authority and then manage it for them (if that makes sense)

Dagmar

Thanks but as I mentioned I do already manage some domain names 'for' the county council.

I have gone through the whole process several times.

My point is that there seems no published policy either within the IEDR of the councils for how these domain names are allocated.

I had to defend my managership (?) recently when a vested interest tried to persuade the council they had a better claim to the domain name than I have.

I think this is a large issue and will become larger as the way things stand Councils, which are vested interests themselves, are not required to have any policy or transparency on how these decisions are made.

Geographical domain names are obviously valuable as location specific targeting becomes more refined.

While i don't think the IEDR is capable of allocating domains on the basis of merit (God help us!). Some system should be in place that is clear, transparent and verifiable.

I would be interested in your thoughts

~ Dave

mneylon

The policy is clear:

"3.6: The proposed domain name must not contravene the geographical name regulation. This regulation requires that no domain name may consist of Irish geographical name(s), word(s) or description(s), or a combination of such, followed by .ie, which in the view of the Registry would be likely to be misleading if registered in the name of the applicant, or if registered would be likely to infer or to imply that the applicant had exclusive or certain rights emanating from such a domain name.

These names, which can most often be defined as names that appear on official maps, are only registered to relevant local authorities. The Registry will not be involved in arrangements between local authorities and third parties regarding the use of the domain name. Quasi-geographical names that do not appear on official maps, such as Leeside, Bayside, Liffey Valley etc. are usually acceptable domain name applications from non-local authority applicants. Applications comprising corporate names, Trade Marks etc. and which include a (real) geographical name are usually compelled to include the "product" name in the domain name. For example, Westmeath Mountaineering Products would be obliged to include "mountaineering", or a derivation, at a minimum, in their domain name."

Note the section I added emphasis to.

Dagmar

Thanks Blacknight for pointing that out.

I may indeed have seen that section some time ago. I think is is tucked away a bit and hard to find. At least that was my memory of it. Never the less.

My point is that the Local Authorities have no national agreed policy (as far as I know) or in my local councils case, no publicly published policy, as to how they allocate management of these names.

Maybe someone has goverment level information on this but I can't find it on line. I realise it is not so much an issue for resellers as they just get requests from the Local Councils for registrations, but for people trying to register domain names with geographical name restrictions it is an issue.

As a result my web site content is effectively 'monitored' by the County Council.

omahonydonnelly

The issue I have come across is that the procedures have changed over the years and it would make it straight forward for all concerned if there was a specific policy. This will become more of an issue as more and more groups are getting web savvy.

I manage a few sites for towns/regions in Cork and only one is registered by the County Council and the community group minding the site is allowed to use it. The others were registered years earlier, before you needed the involvement of the County Council at all, and are controlled either by business or tourism organisations. I'm always waiting for the UDC or another group in any of the areas to step in and make their claim.

For any of these we have not had any monitoring by the County Council, that I know of, but all the sites are run by committee and are not used for any commercial purpose -- I suppose that is what the County Council would be afraid of.

mneylon

The registry rules do not allow individuals or private businesses to register place names, so if you can persuade a local authority to let you use the domain, then you are lucky.

The local authorities can use their own discretion, so it's a win win situation for just about everyone - except you

Dagmar

Blacknight

I don't care if I am lucky or not. It is beside the point, you seem to be trying to trivialise the issue.

I think local authorities should not be the arbiter unless they have clear transparent policies in place.

As 'omahonydonnelly' says it could end up with competing claims from any 'community based' groups. I'm sure many political parties would lay claim to that tag line...

mneylon

Dagmar wrote: »

Blacknight

I don't care if I am lucky or not. It is beside the point, you seem to be trying to trivialise the issue.

I think local authorities should not be the arbiter unless they have clear transparent policies in place.

As 'omahonydonnelly' says it could end up with competing claims from any 'community based' groups. I'm sure many political parties would lay claim to that tag line...

If they have a written policy their hands will be tied. If they have to draft the policy they'll end up restricting it so much that you won't actually gain anything.

In some cases, like this, the lack of policy may be frustrating, but it can work to your advantage