Wales Loses .cym Domain Battle To Cayman Islands

Wales has lost its battle with the Cayman Islands to secure the “.cym” domain name for Welsh internet addresses.

After four years of trying to secure the “.cym” domain name, Welsh hopes were thwarted after the United Nations ruled that, as the Cayman Islands are a recognised state and Wales is a part of the UK, the tiny British Overseas Territory should have precedence.

The Cayman Islands already have registered the “.ky” suffix for its internet addresses.

The campaign to secure the letters “cym” - short for Cymru - was headed by dotCYM in support of promoting the Welsh language and culture.

DotCYM managing director Siôn Jobbins has since asked supporters to come up with alternatives to “.cym”.

"We'd like to hear the views of people on which domain they'd like to use, for instance .cymru .cwl (Cymru Wales) or .wales,” he said. "We are still going ahead with the bid and that isn't affected. Not being able to use .cym is a shame, but it's not a problem."

Jobbins added that the bid itself is not in jeopardy because of the decision, the BBC reports.

"It looks increasingly likely that Icann will open the application process in 2011 so we need to decide on the Welsh domain by the end of this year," he said.

Tags: UK / United Kingdom, domain names

via network.itproportal.com