Open Use ccTLD
An Open Use ccTLD is a ccTLD whose manager has reduced or eliminated restrictions to registration, or in some cases leased or otherwise licensed use of the TLD to a third party.
History
Early examples of Open Use TLDs were .tv, Tuvalu's ccTLD, .cc, the ccTLD of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Samoa's .ws. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development noted the trend of certain ccTLDs to act as alternatives to the existing gTLDs in 2006:
Some ccTLDs, usually small countries or islands, actively seek global registrants to generate revenue and function commercially like gTLDs. They do not have technical autonomy on the global Internet but may have relative autonomy as, although they are subject to national regulations of the country or the region in which they are based, they are not subject to the rules that the ICANN community develops for commercial gTLDs. Often referred to as “open ccTLDs” or “quasi-generics”, TLD registries that decided to open their name spaces to all interested registrants, regardless of country, include by way of example, .cc (Cocos Islands), .tv (Tuvalu), or .ws (Samoa).[1]