Pinkard Brand is a domain name expert at Iron Mountain.

Question:

What are IDNs and how do you search for availability?

Answer:

An IDN (internationalized domain name) is a domain name that potentially contains non-ASCII characters, including letters with diacritics common in many European languages, or characters from non-Latin scripts such as Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, or symbols. Since it is estimated that two-thirds of content on the Internet is in English, but only one-third of users speak English as a native language, the introduction of IDNs is an attempt to introduce a variety of languages into domain name system while maintaining its integrity by converting IDNs into standard ASCII domain names.

Symbols: www.®.com, ☎.com

Japanese Kanji:   職業.jp, 雇用.jp

Chinese Simplified: 孟子.com

Korean Hangul: 항공.com

Since the Domain Name System (DNS) doesn’t actually use non-Latin-character domain names natively, it translates them into indiscriminate strings of Latin characters so that the DNS can resolve them, then back again so the user can read them. The conversions between ASCII and non-ASCII forms of a domain name are accomplished by algorithms called “ToASCII” and “ToUnicode.” The result back to ASCII is accomplished by using Punycode (a type of “bootstring encoding”) before prepending with the 4-character string "xn--".

Example: The Chinese Simplified IDN “孟子.com”  translates in Punycode to “xn--i8s3a.com.”

In theory, IDNs will help web content developers reach audiences in their local language to strengthen brand recognition and improve user experience. However, the current global DNS standard does not allow such characters, thus users have been forced to download special browser plug-ins in order to access associated web addresses.  That is starting to change in 2006 as Mozilla’s Firefox®, Netscape®, and Opera are among the first browser applications to support IDNs. Microsoft® has announced that Internet Explorer 7.0 (IE) will provide native support for IDNs.  Since most of the online world uses IE there is now potential for IDNs to become a huge headache for intellectual property owners. Already there are reports of phishing attacks that utilize homographic spoofing techniques (using confusingly similar characters) for example, the spoofed domain "p?ypal.com" contains a Cyrillic ?, not a Latin a.

So how do you search for IDNs or possible infringers?  Basically it’s not easy. There are approximately 27 TLDs that offer IDNs. At present, it is not possible to publicly search for any character string except an exact match---it is not possible to perform any pattern or wild-card searches unless you have specialized knowledge and access to each IDN registry’s zone files.  So far there is no widely available public method of searching for plurals, common typos, etc. You must search for each name one by one.  And since you probably don’t speak the language or understand all of the native characters, you will probably need to employ a native speaker in order to make sure you minimize any language gaps and errors when performing searches.

To run an exact match search for a .com IDN:

First, convert the IDN from the native character or RACE code to the Punycode that VeriSign (.com registry operator) uses in its WHOIS database.  The tool is located at http://mct.verisign-grs.com/conversiontool/convertServlet?input=%E5%AD%9F%E5%AD%90.com&type=UTF8.

Second, assuming you have results in Punycode, copy and paste that information into the WHOIS search box at the VeriSign .com registry WHOIS at http://registrar.verisign-grs.com/whois/.   If the name exists then you will see very basic “thin” WHOIS information with the name of the associated registrar.

Third, go the registrar’s WHOIS web page to obtain the registrant and contact information. A list of all ICANN accredited registrar’s can be found at http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html.

The Iron Mountain Connect™ Domain Name Center supports IDN registration. To learn more, please contact your Iron Mountain Client Service Representative.

About the Expert:

Pinkard “Pinky” Brand is an internationally recognized subject matter expert on domain names. He was a co-founder of Arcemus®, a corporate domain name records management company that was acquired by Iron Mountain in 2004. 

Mr. Brand also served as President of Internet Domain Names, Inc. (idNames™). Founded in 1996, the company was among the first in the world to develop commercial worldwide domain name registry search software and corresponding database of registration requirements for over 200 country-code top-level domains, as well as introducing the concept of online intellectual property protection.

Mr. Brand has been an active member of the International Trademark Association (INTA) since 1997 and currently serves on two of its committees. He is CLE-certified by the Virginia State Bar, and speaks regularly to corporate and independent counsel and paralegals around the world on matters concerning domain names and online intellectual property protection.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:

The sole objective in providing an answer to the above question is to provide the public with some background information on IDNs. The response given herein shall not be binding for Pinkard Brand or Iron Mountain, nor can they be considered guidelines on the interpretation of the legal framework concerning IDNs.