.TM, the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Turkmenistan, stopped receiving applications when demand overwhelmed the former registry, Netnames. A new registry, TM Domain Registry, was formed and has worked with Netnames and the Internet Society of Turkmenistan to reopen the domain.
With an obvious attraction to trademark owners, the registry has taken the step of retaining the World Intellectual Property Organisation Arbitration and Mediation Centre to rule on any disputes that may arise within the space.
"While it's worth noting that .TM is not a trademark registry, we want trademark holders to be able to register and use their intellectual asset as a .TM domain name with strong protections against cyber-squatting," said Paul Kane, general manager of the .TM Registry. WIPO will develop a dispute resolution service based on the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.
.TM domain names will cost US$1,000 for 10 years, and proceeds will help improve the quality of life and Internet use in Turkmenistan.
The registry is headquartered in London, and runs on six servers around the world, including one in Melbourne.
Price of these domains ranging from $1,200 for 10 years to $1,499.909 for 10 years is ridiculous and asinine. Country is poor and probably run by a brutal dictator who is going to pocket all the money earned from these domains. While everyone needs to protect their domains, it makes no sense to support these brutal dictators who don't give a **** about their own people and only think about lining their pockets. I received an email from a Chinese registering company who calmly informed us that a Chinese company was going to register our brand name with .tm extension. We have had to register several domains with country extensions just to protect our brand from these Chinese. I am all for global progress but these Chinese and other SOB companies/individuals think they can register domain names and try to make profit by selling them back to individuals or companies. I, for one, have no use for these worthless scammers and brutal dictators. Someone please explain to me why in the hell are we supporting these kinds of actions ?????.