Chinese Domain Name Spam

In the past we've received emails from companies such as “China Domain Name Registration Centre”, alleging that the .cn and .com.cn versions of tmdonline were being registered by another party.  Now as a seasoned internet user, I knew this smelt a bit dodge.

However what should you do if you receive an email such as this?

1. Firstly, domain registers (such as netregistry, melbourneit, godaddy), do NOT conduct “trademark” searches, or try and contact owners of the trademark before a domain name is registered.  Be very suspicious of someone “offering” to secure a domain name for you (this is often done on the pretext of “quick! Register this, because someone else is trying to”).
2. Really look at the domain extension – are you going to use it?  (i.e. does TMD Online need tmdonline.com.bo (This is for Bolivia by the way)).

Obviously you should try and secure any domain name that you wish to trade under (so if you are going to open a store in NZ, and the UK, then trying to register .co.nz and .co.uk makes sense).  If you are going to have a presence in China, then registering .cn also makes sense (although we would encourage you NOT to register with someone who has sent you unsolicited email).  Note you may also register other domain names, to keep your competition from potentially buying them.