The head of Ireland’s IE Domain Registry (IEDR), David Curtin, gave copyright and trademark owners a heads up that they may have to defend their brands on Ireland’s .ie new country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD).

.ie domains for major brands including; police.ie, british.ie, look.ie, ipod.ie, adidas.ie, nike.ie and bebo.ie, were registered by individuals suspected of cyber-squatting.

This is somewhat surprising because the IEDR is supposedly a ‘managed registry’, that will not grant .ie domains to applicants unless that applicant is a registered company or can otherwise prove its ownership over the name. An applicant is able to prove this to the IEDR by supporting their application with a valid Irish registered business number (RBN) which can be obtained from the Companies Registration Office (CRO).

However, the CRO’s RBN system may need a re-looking at. Curtin noted of the .ie major brand name domains in question that, “their application to us was supported by a valid registered business number (RBN) that they attained from the CRO. If they have an RBN it means they have a valid registered business name and are in accordance with our rules.”

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