As a result of the re-delegation of the .SO country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications for The Republic of Somalia, the .SO domain extension will re-launch.  We are advising all trademark holders to register your brands in the Sunrise Period to ensure that your marks are protected.  There are no local presence requirements for .SO domains.

dotSO may be registered in the following extensions:

• .so – General purpose
• com.so – Commercial Entities
• net.so – Internet and Network Companies
• org.so – Non-profit Organizations

.SO Launch Schedule

Sunrise – November 1, 2010 to November 30, 2010

Trademark holders may submit registration requests for domain names where a validate trademark has been registered.  If more than one applicant is validated, an auction will be held for the registration

Sunrise Auction – December 1, 2010

An auction will be held for all Sunrise orders with a valid trademark for a domain.

Land Rush – December 16, 2010 to February 9, 2011

Period in which the registry will accept registrations requests for all premium .SO domain names that were not ordered during the Trademark Sunrise Period or on the registry restricted/reserved list.

Land Rush Auction – February 10, 2011

The registry will hold an auction for any domain where more than one application was submitted during Land Rush.

General Availability –  March 1, 2011

This is the period following Land Rush Auction where any unregistered or unreserved domain names can be registered on a first come, first service basis

The Sunrise registration fee for .SO domains is $310 per domain for a 3 years registration.  This fee includes the trademark validation fee and administrative processing fees.

If you have any questions related to the .SO sunrise, please contact your Safenames account manager.  You may also contact the UK office at +44-1-908200022 and [email protected] or the US office at +1-703-574-5313 and [email protected].