The legal battle about co.no is about to commence with a foreign company called Norwegian company Elineweb AS who registered the domain, and is administered by a Dutch company called  Dutch company CoDNS BV. The company Elineweb AS has a law filed a lawsuit against Norid. The the domain was illegally transferred and has now been put on the ban list of transfers. The court trial will start in march. To read further click here.

Congress is trying to pass two controversial copy right enforcement laws that will aim to protect the Internet community. The new laws nicknamed PIPA and SOPA are in high support around lawmakers and companies. The Motion Picture Company of America is in high support and Congress is ready and seeking approval. The bills will help court orders to be placed to stop websites who are infringing copyright laws. To read further click here.

The spanish government has decided to pass a new legislation that will block websites selling pirated material within ten days of being online. The new law is called the Sinde law named after the Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez- Sinde. The Intellectual Property Commission will decide whether the website will have legal repercussions. The entertainment industry is pleased about this new law, but bloggers and many online-journalists find that this law is pretty harsh. To read further click here.

The Internet made a new stride yesterday and is emerging  with possibilities for anyone to register web address suffixes for 185,000 dollars. This launch is the  so-called dot brand names and has endless opportunities for marketers to make brand new images for companies online. These new changes have not gone well with the federal trade commission and warned businesses that this new gTLD system could be a nightmare. Forty of the world’s largest companies have already complained to ICANN and to FTC that this will increase costs and they don’t see the benefit.  Applicants have until April 12th to sign up. The first domains will be seen in 2013.  To read further on this story click here.

China plans to implement IPv6 by 2015.  The new systems opens up a possibility to have a larger pool of addresses compared to the IPv4 system, which is currently standard around the world. The IPv4 system only has the capability of handling 4 billion IP addresses, while the IPv6 can hold trillions with no unforeseeable end. China currently has the worlds largest internet system, and will be trying out a small version of the IPv6 system by that end of 2013. WIth this on the horizon Chinese technology has been encouraged to develop for the new system. To read further click here.

The Japanese, after a three year project, developed a virus that can monitor and analyze cyber attacks. The project was developed by a company called  Fujitsu, and the Japanese say that they are going to make amendments to their system in order to use the cyber weapon. The Japanese in the last few months have been going through some security breaches and feel it is necessary. But for now the cyber weapon is being tested in a closed environment. To read further click here. 

One time trademark blocks were requested by the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse for ICANN’s new top-level domains. The blocks were offered for .XXX domains that were recently released to the public, and CADNA wants the same thing. CADNA wants ICANN to require and give the option for brand owners to buy low-cost blocks on their trademarks during domain sunrise periods. CADNA is not one of the companies that is opposing the new ggTLD program, although a number of other companies are running a strong campaign it. To read further click here.

Latest within the country code top level domains news Tokelau’s ccTLD (.TK) has risen in the ranks to 7th largest ccTLD.  Tokelau is a group of islands that are in-between Hawaii and New Zealand. This group of islands has a free association to New Zealand. The domain is actually free and maybe that is why the domain has risen, however some reports have concluded that may be due to internet phishing. The ccTLD in 2011 had the highest phishing rates out of any ccTLD. To read further on this story click here.

ICANN chair says that he will not delay the opening of the new gTLD program. A pilot program has been in under discussion by US federal agencies, but ICANN says although they will have a meeting to discuss the new program they have no plans on halting the release.  The campaign against the new program started in Washington DC by the letters from congressmen, 150 companies, and the Federal Trade Commission. To read further on this story click here.

The domain Vatican.xxx has not been registered by a pornographic company and was previously removed by the ICM registry prior to the public launch of the domain name earlier this month. Vatican.xxx is on the permanent reserve list, in other words no one will ever be able to purchase that domain name.  The new domain names were only recently released to the public last month and had several sunrise phases in order to have companies and trademark holders register in advance. The Vatican spokesman last week spoke too soon last week and Vatican.xxx will never make an appearance on the world wide web.  To read further please click here.