The Internet Services Unit of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has set January 19, 2000 as the deadline for the registration of domain names on the Internet.
"Starting from January 22, the Saudi Network Information Center (SaudiNIC) will be registering domain names on a strictly first come, first served basis," Dr. Fahad Al-Hoymany, director-general of Internet Services Unit (ISU) at KACST, told Arab News.
He said that until the expiry of the deadline, SaudiNIC would encourage applicants to be creative in deciding on domain names for their websites. This is to avoid the kind of situation prevailing in the United States and other countries where companies are suing each other for appropriating names belonging to others.
A domain name is the address by which a company's web site can be found. Typing in the address, which usually begins "www", to an Internet browser's address bar will retrieve the company's pages from the Internet.
"SaudiNIC will continue to require that a domain name be an obvious derivation of the official name of the applicant, one of its registered trademarks, or represents one of its activities. It can only be in one of the following forms: - English, Arabic transliteration, or an abbreviation of the applicant's name, trademark, or activity description," Dr. Hoymany said.
He added that after January 19, 2000, they will continue to register any domain name, provided it does not represent a prominent personality or an organization. "What the regulation means is that if you are an owner of a company and want to register your company on the Internet, you have to act before the 19th of January."
Otherwise, said Dr. Hoymany, "the name that you want may be allotted to another applicant. So organizations would be well advised to register their company's name or the chosen name before that date. The registration service will be free."
It was also announced that individuals would be allowed to have their own web sites. However, the site will be registered under a new domain, "pus.sa", one of the eight categories of domains created by SaudiNIC.
Applicants wishing to submit a domain name have to go through Saudi Network Center Information Center at KACST, which can be found at the following locations:http://www.saudinic.net.sa/app-online.cgi or http://www.saudinic.net.sa/app-text.html.
The applicant has to submit a letter by mail or fax requesting the domain name registration on an official letterhead