By Angus Forsyth & Yvonne Chia

At least three established principal registrars are currently competing head-to-head to set up and administer a stand-alone Chinese domain name registration regime and structure. Operating in "law of the jungle" circumstances, none of these domain name registrars -- Network Solutions Inc (NSI); China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC); i-DNS.net International (i-DNS) -- can guarantee globally exclusive registered ownership of a Chinese domain name.

It is interesting to note that Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the U.S. based and internationally recognised Internet governing body over English domain names, has, to date, no consolidated policy towards Chinese domain names, let alone issued any licence or registration rights in this regard.

NSI was the international registrar of over 19 million domain names and had monopolised the domain name registration market for years. Ever since it handed over the operational rights of the international top level domain server to ICANN, NSI has decided to branch out to Chinese domain name registration and has since become a major competitor. NSI started to provide certain Asian domain names registration services in November 2000, basically translating Chinese characters into ".com" Internet address, similar to the way in which English domain names are dealt with.

CNNIC came into the picture after becoming alarmed by the potential problems over offshore tinkering with the Chinese written language, which it regards as a sort of precious national resource with exclusive legitimacy of Mainland claims of control. It was also concerned about the potential loss of control of national security intervention, foreign cyber-squatting and -- and perhaps most importantly -- saw Chinese language domain name registration as a way to dominate a permanent future store of profitability. It launched its own registration on an experimental basis on January 18, 2000 and, according to CNNIC, on an "advanced" level on November 7, 2000 to compete for a share of the Chinese domain name market. CNNIC's market edge lies in its MII's support.

MII's desire to safeguard CNNIC's monopoly of its Chinese character domain name registration activities in the PRC is clearly manifested in the issue by the MII of the Circular Concerning Administration of Internet Chinese Domain Name (Circular) in early November 2000. Under the Circular, anyone who engages in Chinese character domain name registration activities in the PRC must obtain approval from the MII. Although the circular sets out certain application criteria for registration service organization and registration agent, such approval is at the sole discretion of the MII. One wonders if it is realistic to expect the MII to approve NSI or i-DNS as a state authorized registration service organization or registration agent.

The February 16, 2001 edition of the "China Daily" ran a press release issued by the China State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, the paper reported that the bureau would implement a national standard for Chinese domain name registration on a trial basis which pursues the CNNIC system. The intention is to issue a series of regulations whereby enterprises, individuals and government departments as the domain name applicants will be registered in line with the relevant patent, copyright and trade mark laws. According to the Bureau, the competition of i-DNS and NSI "has led to chaos" in the development of Chinese domain names on the Mainland and has "put domestic enterprises at a loss as to which system to choose." There is a further pledge to recommend this national standard structure to the International Standardisation Organisation to make it the world norm for Chinese domain names.

i-DNS emerged as a Chinese domain name competitor because of its core domain name technology which allows applicants to use the language of their choice for their Internet domain name. i-DNS seeks to bridge the multinational/multilingual gap that has hindered Internet access for non-native English language users.

Yvonne Chia: "It may be particularly important to register with CNNIC if you intend to do or are doing business in the PRC especially given the MII's November 2000 issue of the circular."

The present system, or lack of one, allows the same Chinese domain name to be registered with different registrars by different entities, because the different registrars -- being effectively commercially hostile competitors -- simply offer domain names on a first-come, first-served basis, without prior consultation with one another. For example, the fact that A has registered with i-DNS only does not necessarily inhibit B, who may be a competitor or a cyber-squatter, from doing so with CNNIC.

The backend technology employed by NSI is actually supplied by i-DNS. In fact, i-DNS and VeriSign announced an alliance in January 2001 focused on extended use by VeriSign of i-DNS's multilingual enabling technology in its Multilingual Domain Names Testbed, thus allowing users to surf the Internet using Chinese domain names without installing any plug-ins or obtaining help from their ISPs.

However, the registration systems of i-DNS and NSI operate on parallel, but distinctly separated, lines; thus, the same Chinese second level domain name with the equivalent Chinese and English top level domain names can be registered with both registrars. This results -- and is likely to continue to result -- in further and enduring confusion.

Whilst the American NSI and Singaporean i-DNS registrars are allying, the PRC side of the domain name equation has also been gathering composite force in a completely separate way. In May 2000, a Chinese Domain Names Consortium was formed by CNNIC together with TWNIC, HKNIC and MONIC -- respectively of the PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau -- to coordinate the administration and technical development of Chinese domain names in the Greater China Region.

Having said that, TWNIC, the Taiwan counterpart of CNNIC, provides Chinese domain name registration services for:WITH WHOM SHOULD BUSINESSES REGISTER?

As long as the confusing situation remains unresolved, clearly the safest route is to register your Chinese domain name with all the registrars. At present, CNNIC is the only MII approved Registration Administrator and therefore it is important to register with CNNIC if you intend to do or are doing business in the PRC.

RECENT DEVELOPMENT
Media sources have revealed that ICANN, which has remained reticent on the fierce Chinese domain names competition so far, has scheduled to send officials over to the PRC to facilitate talks for the standardisation of the Chinese domain name system. Since it is unlikely that any of the registrars is willing to compromise its existing and potential interest in the increasingly attractive and almost limitless online Chinese domain name market, the official visit may not be expected to clear up all confusion in the near future.

Although the courts in numerous jurisdictions -- and also in the PRC -- have certain powers under both common law and statute to order for a domain name to be transferred if it was registered in bad faith, one can only marvel at the manifest unreasonableness of the Pfizer Corporation December 2000 experience in the PRC where it lost its "Viagra" domain name case against a Chinese company because the No. 2 Beijing Intermediate People's Court decided that "Viagra" is not a famous trademark even though it has been registered in more than 100 countries including the PRC. Judicial unpredictability and the increasing threat of cyber-squatting are thus also a factor in the sometimes bleak scene of duly entitled protection in use.

Moreover, businesses should keep themselves up to date as to the latest Chinese domain name news because -- if more registrars emerge out of the woodwork -- businesses may have no option but to register with them too - at least to preserve all options until the time when all the clouds have blown away and a single registration entity steps competently up to the golden throne sometime in the years to come.