Protecting Your Domain/Brand

[TP_Marketing]

Hi All,

We've registered our domain with register.com they will not all us to buy .ca unless we reside in canada, same fro uk.  Has anyone run into this problem? I wouldnt want someone to snatch it up and use it to their advantage.

[ThompsonPaul]

The rules for who may register a country-level domain are set by each country's domain registration authority, not by the individual companies that sell domain name registrations, LBM

In Canada, CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) makes the rules for who can buy a .ca domain, and after consultation with Canadians, decided that "the dot-ca domain space should be developed as a key public resource for the social and economic development of all Canadians. Individuals or organizations that wish to register a dot-ca domain name must meet CIRAs Canadian Presence Requirements."

So it's not Register.com that's denying you, it's the fact that you don't meet the requirements set out by Canadian policy. These kinds of limitations are in place for many ccTLDs (country-level domains) including the UK as you've discovered.

Note that, in Canada at least, in addition to citizens, Permanent Residents. and registered Canadian businesses, you can also register the domain if it is directly part of a trademark that is registered in Canada. So if you really want to protect it in Canada (I assume also holds in other countries) you can trademark the name here and then you'll be able to register the domain name in .ca.

Paul