June 10 date for shorter .UK domain names — Nominet sets

Shorter .uk domain names will land this summer.

Nominet will offer second level registrations under the .uk domain name starting June 10.

Firms will now be able to get example.uk instead of example.co.uk or example.org.uk as part of a plan approved in November.

Owners of existing third level .co.uk domain names (as of October 28, 2013) will get first rights to the matching second level .uk domain names and have five years to decide whether they want it.

Registrants of .org.uk and other third level domain names will not get secondary rights to the .uk domain name if the .co.uk registrant doesn’t opt to register the domain name. Still, if no matching .co.uk was registered as of October 28, then the first right goes to the .org.uk owner.

You can now verify who gets first rights to a .uk domain name by entering it in the whois search at Nominet.org.uk. Here’s an example of what you’ll see:

For domain name registrars, this “first right” option will create somewhat of an integration headache, but it’s no worse than what they’re dealing with for fresh top level domain names. And, of course, it’s an extra revenue opportunity for them.