.me

Manager:	doMEn
Registrations:	650,000
Date Implemented:	2007
Type:	Open ccTLD
Key People
Predrag Lesic, CEO/Executive Director Natasa Djukanovic , International Sales Director

.me is the country code top level domain name (ccTLD) delegated to the Government of Montenegro under ISO-3166 standard, though it is open to registration outside the country as a personal domain name extension. At present there are more than 650,000 registered .me domain names within 200 countries worldwide. It is the of the fastest growing TLDs in Europe, and the second most popular extension for start-ups after .com.

Background

On September 11, 2007, the ICANN Board approved the delegation of the .me ccTLD to Montenegro. The operations at the time were handled by the Center of Information Systems (CIS) of the University of Montenegro.

In November 2007, the government of Montenegro issued a Request for Proposal in search for a registry operator capable of transforming the .me ccTLD into a world-class domain space. doMEn, known as the .Me Registry, with its partners Afilias Limited, GoDaddy.com, Inc., and ME-net won the contract. The new .me domain name space was re-launched and the Sunrise registration was held on July 17, 2008.

By August 5, 2008, .me domain names reached 100,000 registrations. The majority of the registrants (71%) are located in the United States. There are more than 100 registrars offering the .me domain space. The List of .me accredited registrars can be found here

Policies

Registrants are required to provide accurate and complete contact information including the administrative, technical and billing information. They can register a domain name for one year (minimum) up to 10 years and maybe renewed automatically when the expiration date is reached. A registrant can also transfer their domain names from one registrar to another.

Entities anywhere around the world are allowed to register second level domain name ( example: domainname.me) without restrictions while third-level domain names (example:domainname.net.me) are restricted to entities located in Montenegro and Me-net is the only registrar allowed to register the domain names. Third-level .me domain names include:

• net.me
• org.me
• co.me
• its.me
• priv.me

The University of Montenegro Center of Information Systems (CIS) handles the registration for edu.me, ac.me and gov.me sub-domains. .Me Registry uses a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) for domain name disputes, which are filed with the the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Partnership with SEDO

On January 24, 2012, .Me Registry and Sedo, a domain market place monetization provider, announced their partnership in auctioning the premium .me domain names, starting on February 2, 2012. Some of the premium domain names for auction included:

• Hotel.Me
• Singles.Me
• Boats.Me
• Yoga.Me
• Creditcard.Me
• Gift.Me
• Movies.Me
• Webhosting.Me
• Friends.Me

ICANN Participation

.Me registry announced the re-launching of .me ccTLD during the ICANN 32 meeting in Paris, and its sales director Natasa Djukanovic has been actively promoting the domain name space within the ICANN community at successive ICANN meetings. The ccTLD has also been promoted during other industry fora, such as DOMAINfest and TRAFFIC conferences.

Market Share Among Tech Start-ups

Based on a survey regarding the market share of TLD's among start-up companies founded from 2005 to 2011, 1.7% out of 1000 start-ups are using the TLD in 2011. Its market share among start-ups during the previous years were 0.20% (2008), 0.80% (2009) and 0.50% (2010) respectively. It seems .me is surpassing .co with 1.0% market share in 2011 despite .co Internet's strong marketing camapign targeting start-up companies. The survey was conducted by a doctoral student named Thomas Park.