A “Sunrise Period” is a preregistration phase that is often conducted at the beginning of the introduction of a new top level domain. In the Sunrise Period, holders of trademarks and other rights to a name have the possibility to register domains that correspond to the protected term.

This shall help to avoid unauthorized and abusive registrations (the so-called “domain-grabbing”) and as a result avoid complex and often very time consuming legal disputes.

The time directly after the Sunrise Phase when registrations are not limited anymore is usually called “Landrush”. That way, the run on valuable domain names that starts then is compared with the procedures during the settlement of North America.

The following sections provide an overview of the most important facts on each of the introductory phases of the new .xxx top level domain.

During the Sunrise phase the holders of rights to a name are allowed to register the corresponding .xxx domains in order to protect their brands. Furthermore, owners of other top-level domains are allowed to register the corresponding .xxx domains.

Applications during the Sunrise phase can take one of three lanes: Sunrise AT, Sunrise AD and Sunrise B. Sunrise A targets applicants from within the adult Sponsored Community, whereas Sunrise B targets applicants from outside of the adult Sponsored Community (s. Eligibility). These different ways of registering a .xxx domain during the Sunrise phase are dealt with in detail below.

Sunrise AT is for applicants who satisfy the adult Sponsored Community definition and do business under a qualifying trademark.

Sunrise AD is for applicants who satisfy the adult Sponsored Community definition and own a domain name in another gTLD or ccTLD.

Sunrise B is for applicants from outside of the adult Sponsored Community. These applicants own a qualifying trademark and want to reserve names to prevent others from registering these names in .xxx.

Sunrise opens on 7 September 2011 and closes on 28 October 2011.

Note: Domain names that have been registered during Sunrise and Landrush will presumably be usable as of December 6th, 2011. From that time on, a WHOIS service will also be available.

To register a .xxx domain, applicants have to be members of the adult Sponsored Community. The only exception is to reserve a name during so that no-one else can register it (Sunrise B). To ensure that registrants are members of this community, they have to sign up to the Sponsored Community before the domain will resolve. The registry will then check the validity of the application. Individuals and businesses offering online adult entertainment should have no problems signing up.

Owners and licensees of trademarks registered with national effect may apply during the Sunrise phase (Sunrise AT or Sunrise B). Trademarks must have been registered prior to 1 September 2011. Applications may be based on both word and figurative (device) marks that consist exclusively or predominantly of words. The trademark may not contain “.xxx”.

Owners of a domain name in another gTLD or ccTLD may also apply during the Sunrise phase (Sunrise AD). Note that in this case, the .xxx domain name has to be exactly the same as the name of the owned domain. For example, owning the domain “red-light-district.com” permits to register “red-light-district.xxx”, but not “redlightdistrict.xxx”. Also note that IDNs are not available yet for .xxx. So even if you own “schlüpfer-hüpfer.de”, for example, you cannot register “schlüpfer-hüpfer.xxx”.

Sunrise registrations will carry a one-year term.

The Validation Agent (IPRota) will review applications for conformity with the Sunrise Policy. If more than one Sunrise AT or Sunrise AD application for the same name meets the requirements, the name will be up for auction among the eligible applicants.

Reservation requests (Sunrise B) will be successful if they meet the eligibility requirements and there are no Sunrise AT or Sunrise AD applications for the same name.

Registrations during Sunrise are subject to the policy provided below.

Landrush opens on 8 November 2011 and closes on 25 November 2011.

Note: Domain names that have been registered during Sunrise and Landrush will presumably be usable as of December 6th, 2011.

Open to any member of the adult Sponsored Community. No trademark or domain ownership is necessary.

Landrush registrations will carry a one-year minimum term.

If more than one Landrush application for the same name meets the registration requirements, the name will be up for auction among the eligible applicants.

Registrations during Landrush are subject to the policy provided below.

The live operation of .xxx domains is called “General Availability”. Strictly speaking, this is only true for members of the adult Sponsored Community and those registrants who only want to reserve a name. Also, prices are lower during General Availability.

General Availability opens on 6 December 2011.

It is however possible to enter preregistrations into the DRS of Knipp already now!

Please use the same e-mail template as for Sunrise and Landrush registrations. For an explanation of how to do that, please refer to the template help.

Open to any member of the adult Sponsored Community. Registrants who are not members of the Sponsored Community can submit requests to reserve .xxx names, like in the Sunrise B phase.

General Availability registrations will carry a one-year minimum term.

The selection method is “first-come-first-served”.