The Local Trademark phase finished (when Colombian trademark holders had priority to register their matching .co domains), next comes the Global Sunrise.

From April 26th, 2010 trademark holders worldwide will be able to register a matching .co domain before it’s open to the public later on the year. The process will undergo a strict validation procedure, to ensure that all alleged trademark holders have the rights they claim over their trademarks. Deloitte has been assigned as the independent verifying agent to the process.

Because it is a global process, domains requested by verified applications will not instantly be assigned as a first-come first-served basis. Instead, once the Global Sunrise stage has finished, domains with more than one application will go to auction.

If you hold a trademark that was registered before June 30, 2008, you could be eligible to participate in the Global Sunrise and apply for your .co domain name from April 26th.

Stay tuned!

After completion of the first stage of .co domain registration in March, from today, April 1st (no joke!), registered trademarks can now buy their matching .co domain name. Keep in mind this second stage has been divided into two subsequent stages depending on where the trademark was registered:

1) April 1st – April 20th: .co domain registration is open to all trademarks registered in Colombia on or before June 30th, 2008.

2) April 26th – June 10th: .co domain registration is open to all trademarks registered worldwide on or before June 30th, 2008.

Registration is now possible with any available .co domain registrar.

If your trademark was registered after June 30th, 2008, you can register your .co domain at stages 3 or 4 (commercial interest and general availability), in June and July, respectively. For more information, please check the key dates.