Since 7th April, anyone within the European Union has been able to register an available .eu domain name on a first come first served basis. During the first four hours EURid – the not-for-profit organisation operating the Internet top level domain .eu – received 702 684 new registrations. From December, when .eu first opened, until now it has only been possible for holders of prior rights, for instance a trademark, to apply for a .eu names. EURid has received more than 300000 such applications, many of which are already in active use. But now no prior right is needed and the process of getting a .eu domain name is much simpler.
“We are satisfied to see that the interest in .eu has been so large and that many already regard .eu as a useful complement to Internet’s national top level domain names,” says Marc Van Wesemael, the Managing Director of EURid.
The more than 1000 accredited registrars who assist potential domain name holders in registering domain names were quite keen to start registering. During the first hour .eu domain names were being registered at an average speed of 76 per second.
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