Fewer domains used for counterfeit sites — Nominet suspends

Fewer intellectual property violations noted on .uk last quarter.

Nominet, the organization that manages the United Kingdom’s .uk namespace, suspended fewer criminal domains in the third quarter than it did in the same period a year ago.

The group stated it suspended 3,434 domains in Q3, down from 22,158. While it suspends domains for many reasons, it stated the drop is attributed to a steep decline in notes of counterfeit sites by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit. (This is separate from Nominet’s UDRP-like cybersquatting process.)

Nominet stated all but 18 of the requests it received led to suspensions and that 25 suspensions were ultimately reversed.

The organization also flags domains that might contain serious sexual offenses. It flagged 1,012 fresh registrations last quarter but didn’t end up suspending any of them.

Nominet’s anti-phishing initiative suspends fresh domains that might be used for phishing. It suspended 5,484 fresh registrations last quarter and unsuspended 450 following they passed additional checks.

More details are available in Nominet’s note (pdf).