Safenames Ltd

Safenames is a leading global domain name registration company that specializes in corporate domain portfolio management and online trademark infringement protection services. Safenames' comprehensive suite of customizable Web based products and services, sales professionals and customer support teams help businesses to efficiently manage and protect domain names, trademarks and online brand identity. The company is headquartered in Milton Keynes, England with regional offices in Vienna, Virginia, and Sydney, Australia. Safenames is a privately held company founded in 1997 and received ICANN accreditation in 2002.

History

Safenames Limited (Ltd) is a corporate domain name registrar and Online brand protection company which was established in 1997, operating as Domain Names UK, initially as a provider of .co.uk and .com domain names. Safenames expanded from its .co.uk and .com registration origins shortly after receiving its Nominet Registrar Accreditation in 1999, by offering domain name registration service in the European Countries of Denmark, France, Sweden, Germany and Italy, and subsequently acquiring Registrar Accreditations in these countries. Safenames officially changed its company name in 1999 to Safenames Ltd. Over the last decade, Safenames has registered domain names for Fortune 2000 corporations in more than 700 extensions in approximately 244 countries and territories. Safenames specialises in qualifying for and maintaining direct registrar accreditations with the NIC authorities that provision domain names around the world.

Since gaining ICANN Accreditation in 2002, Safenames Ltd has continued to grow—establishing and maintaining Registrar Accreditation in a substantial number of countries worldwide including: Anguilla, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Burundi, Belize, Canada, Cocos Island, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Dominica, Spain, Finland, Micronesia, France, Gibraltar, Greece, South Georgia and Sandwich Islands, Hong Kong, Honduras, Haiti, Ireland, Isle of Man, India, British Indian Ocean Territory, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Luxembourg, Northern Mariana Islands, Montserrat, Malta, Mexico, Nigeria, Netherlands, Norway, Nuie, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Palestine, Portugal, Reunion, Seychelles, Sweden, Singapore, St Helena, Swaziland, Turk and Caicos Islands, Turkey, Tuvalu, Taiwan, UK, US, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Vietnam, Samoa and Zimbabwe.

Safenames expanded upon its domain registration services in 2004 when it launched a Reseller Service, allowing clients to resell domain registrations through the IDP system. There are 2350 resellers worldwide. Additionally in 2004, Local Contact and Company Formation Services were offered, services designed to assist registrants in Registry eligibility issues. Safenames also partnered with VeriSign to provide SSL Certificates to the public.

Software and service development

Safenames Ltd's Technical and Programming Departments design and create proprietary systems and software. In 2001 Safenames Ltd designed the IDP (International Domain Portal), a full-feature domain management platform enabling clients to register domain names and manage domain portfolios. The IDP system currently allows users to query Whois data of any domain name extension, view TLD registration requirements in all countries, modify contact and DNS records of large domain portfolios, monitor invoicing and payments, as well as order value-added services for domain registrations.

The Safenames technical team also developed BigYobi, a comprehensive domain name data gathering tool, which launched in 2008. BigYobi enables Safenames domain consultants to generate and analyze reports on global domain registration that contain a brand or list of brands. This tool collects WHOIS data, a screen capture of the site, HTML code and IP address information concurrently for all registered domains with a specific brand or variation of a brand name. This simplifies the process to gather and present the data needed to prioritize and file domain disputes. Other features of this domain research tool include: Reverse WHOIS (enabling users to enter a name and identify a domain portfolio); Global Combined Search (identifies all ccTLD and TLD domains registrations and corresponding trademark information); Domain Dispute Search (provides search capabilities of all WIPO, NAF and Nominet domain disputes); Portfolio Checker (allows large domain portfolios to be searched simultaneously to identify all potential infringing domain names).

Mark Protect and Domain Retrieval

In 2009 Safenames Ltd launched the Mark Protect Service. This service is a managed online brand protection service, providing solutions to corporate clients including a complete Domain Audit that includes prioritization of domain names, Domain Retrieval, Portfolio Management, Domain Appraisal and Domain Consultation. Safenames developed its consultation service to assist clients with large portfolios. The Consultation service works in conjunction with BigYobi technology to identify key brands and domains which need to be registered or retrieved based on proprietary algorithms.

Safenames' Domain Retrieval Service though its internal legal department since 2006 and has the ability to file domain disputes with any domain dispute authority in the world. Safenames has been successful at retrieving domains through a number of high profile WIPO and Nominet domain dispute cases, including: waltdisney.co.uk, arsenalfc.co.uk, firemansam.com, swarovski.com.au, fatfaceclothing.com, official-arsenal-tickets.com and hotelsconnect.com.

ENUM

In March 2009 Safenames became the first registrar and validation agent for +44 ENUMs when Nominet launched the UK's Electronic Number Mapping System (ENUM). This protocol allows facilities to resolve telephone numbers into other resources or services on the internet. ENUMs can also translate a voice call into an e-mail message or a fax.

See also

• List of domain name registrars
• Domain name
• ccTLD
• ICANN
• ENUM

External links

• Safenames website: www.safenames.net
• Safenames' BigYobi Brand Protection System: www.bigyobi.com

• Nominet website: www.nominet.uk