Russia Awards секс.рф (Sex).рф and банк.рф (Bank).рф
секс.рф (Sex).рф and банк.рф (Bank).рф headlined a group of premium domain names that were awarded to a single Russian company. The release of the .рф (.rf) ccTLD should have merely been a time for celebration, but the event was marred by claims that cronyism turned the sunrise period for .рф into an uneven playing field.
The sunrise period, which was reserved for trademark owners to register their .рф business marks before the general landrush certainly had a suspicious outcome. The following seemingly generic names were all snared by the same company: банк.рф, ипотека.рф, знакомства.рф, секс.рф, недвижимость.рф, досуг.рф, кино.рф. In English, a simple Google translate interprets these names as Bank.RF, Mortgage.RF, Dating.RF, Sex.RF, Properties.RF, Leisure.RF, and Movies.RF.
Who was the “trademark holder” awarded these domains? CETIS. A Russian web development company. But according to a Russian new site here: “CETIS is a subsidiary of REG.RU, which first received permission to register domains in the zone .рф. Moreover, CEO Alexei Korolyuk was part of a working group to develop the rules of registering domain names in Russia.”
Another investigative report found that CETIS registered the trademark банк.рф (Bank).рф under the guise of an umbrella trademark: “The trademark “movie” was registered in the class ‘water heaters, lamps, lanterns,’ and the trademark ‘banks’ in the class ‘umbrellas, handles for umbrellas and suitcases.’ “
It is Russia, did anyone expect anything different?
While this kind of “domain cronyism” is not exclusive to Russia, the Russian registry has lost any credibility it did have with this move. Investing in idn Russia is like juggling flaming razor blades.
imho
While the payoff may be great in the end, as always DON’T INVEST ANY MONEY YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE. AND NEVER INVEST IN JUST ONE TLD.
Peace.
“Moreover, CEO Alexei Korolyuk was part of a working group to develop the rules of registering domain names in Russia”
Looks like Alexei got his hand caught in the cookie jar. oops.
What did you expect – this is Russia. That’s why I am not going to invest in Russian domains.
Russian domains or .рф
Russian idn dot com values will only rise because of this. The .com is safe.
Best.