"The .Asia launch is a historical moment for the Internet technically, commercially and culturally in Asia. Ensuring a stable, orderly and secure launch is of the utmost importance for the Organization. That includes not only the technical platform but also the legal processes supporting the launch," said Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia. "Having the strong expertise from HKIAC in being the Dispute Resolution Provider for the .Asia Sunrise Challenge process further ensures the integrity and solidity of the entire process."

"The partnership between HKIAC and DotAsia is one that exemplifies Hong Kong as a strong regional hub for information technology," said Christopher To, Secretary-General of the HKIAC. "That is true not only for the technical infrastructure and professional resources but also in the legal and business environment."

Christopher To believes that Hong Kong is gradually becoming a center of excellence in information technology dispute resolution. With the introduction of ".Asia" in the region and Hong Kong at the Centre of this crucial development could only mean one thing – The future for Hong Kong as one stop shop information technology hub looks bright indeed.

Furthermore, based on feedback from the community and supportive online polling results, DotAsia has extended the Sunrise period for Sunrise 2b (General Marks), Sunrise 2c (Extended Protection) and Sunrise 3 (Registered Entity Names) from January 15 to January 31, 2008. This provides brand owners with the last chance to protect their brand names in .Asia before the Landrush begins on February 20, 2008.

The Sunrise period for ".Asia " started on 9 October 2007 (for Sunrise 2a) and will close on 31 January 2008. Challenges arising out from this period concerning " .Asia" sunrise registrations can be submitted to HKIAC for resolution in accordance with the Sunrise Challenge Policy and Sunrise Challenge Rules. Normally , the whole dispute resolution process for " .Asia" sunrise challenges will be completed within three months . For further details, please refer to a dedicated website at  http://www.hkiac.org/odr/dotasia.htm.

About DotAsia Organisation

DotAsia Organisation is the Sponsoring Organisation and Registry Operator for the .ASIA Sponsored Generic Top Level Domain. DotAsia is a not-for-profit, community-based organization incorporated in Hong Kong. Asia has developed into a global force in the international commercial, political and cultural network. The .ASIA domain aspires to embrace this dynamism in the Asia Century to become a nucleus, intersection and breeding ground for Internet activity and development in the region. To learn more about DotAsia , please visit: http://www.registry.asia

About Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre

Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre ('HKIAC') was established by a group of the leading business and professional people in Hong Kong to be the focus for Asia of dispute resolution in 1985. It has been generously funded by the business community and by the Hong Kong Government but it is totally independent of both and it is financially self sufficient.

HKIAC aims to assist disputing parties to solve their disputes by arbitration and by other means of dispute resolution. It places great emphasis in providing online dispute resolution services in a wide variety of areas including intellectual property and information technology.

HKIAC is an authorized dispute resolution provider to handle domain name disputes in various categories, including .hk (Hong Kong), .cn (Mainland China), .ph (Philippine) and .pw (Palau). HKIAC also operates the Hong Kong Office of Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) and handles disputes concerning generic top level domains (gTLDs) under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). To learn more about HKIAC, please visit: http://www.hkiac.org .

Contact Information

DotAsia Organisation
Mr. Pavan Budhrani
Tel: 852 3520 2635
Fax: 852 3520 2634
Email: pavan@registry.asia