Nominet UK
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Nominet UK is the .uk domain name registry in the United Kingdom, which was founded by Dr Willie Black on 14 May 1996 when its predecessor, the "Naming Committee" was unable to deal with the volume of registrations then being sought under the .uk domain. Nominet is a non-profit company limited by guarantee. It has 'members' who act as shareholders. Anyone can become a member, but most members are internet service providers who are also tagholders.
Unlike the model in other countries, by and large customers wishing to register a domain do not approach Nominet directly, but register the domain via a 'tagholder'. Loosely, this is an organisation with a credit account who have registered a PGP key with Nominet. As of 28 February 2006 the .uk register held 4,783,448 .uk domain names. Nominet also deals with disputes about registrations of .uk domain names, via its Dispute Resolution Service (DRS), which is similar to the UDRP system used for generic Top Level Domain Names, but with certain innovations such as a free mediation service.
History
Most countries have their own Top Level Domain. The .uk TLD was first used during the 1980s, and at that time a voluntary group called the "Naming Committee" managed the registration of .uk domain names. By the early 1990s, commercial companies started to sell domain names to customers. As demand for domain name registrations grew, it became clear that a voluntary group could no longer cope with the volume of registrations being requested. A new organisation was needed to manage the .uk TLD and as a result Nominet UK was formed. There was discussion about what type of corporation the Registry should be. The options to set-up as a profit-making company or a charity were rejected, and Nominet was established in 1996 as a private, not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee.
Domains
See also
- .uk domain name
- UDRP - Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy suggested by ICANN
- InterNIC - The United States counterpart.
- Apple Computer trademark dispute with Benjamin Cohen - Details of Nominet's ruling for Apple Computer in the dispute of the itunes.co.uk domain.
External link
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