Are some words / phrases reserved?

[JamesD]

I've come across a couple of Japanese .com names that whois shows as available and never previously reg'd, even though the .org and .net are taken.

In both cases whois returns "no match found" but neither name can be registered...tried at 3 registrars.

Are some names reserved?

[gammascalper]

words in simplified and traditional Chinese and Japanese kanji that are close to them block each other from registration. It's the so-called variant effect.

[JamesD]

Thanks - so they will never be available to reg?

[sunsei21]

if the other one drops i guess they both become available. but if one is registered both are registered

[JamesD]

Ok, thanks.

[Ryu]

Originally Posted by JamesD

I've come across a couple of Japanese .com names that whois shows as available and never previously reg'd, even though the .org and .net are taken.

In both cases whois returns "no match found" but neither name can be registered...tried at 3 registrars.

Like 不動産.com (real estate) and 投資.com (investment)? It's a frigging fact that 2 of the biggest Japanese names are variant blocked.

[JamesD]

One of the ones I was refering to was 学校.com (school)...if it looks too good to be true, etc.

[squirrel]

學校.com blocks 学校.com. As others pointed, this situation is referred to as a "variant block"

http://whois.domaintools.com/xn--n9so80a.com

There are a few cases of both variants being registered to different owners (such as 技術 and 技术) but it's rare and likely occured in the early days -testbed perhaps(?)- when Verisign variant blocking system was not implemented yet. Needless to say if one of the two domains drop it would not be available for registration.

[Drewbert]

The bizarre thing about the current system is someone like Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation can either have the simplified version of their real Chinese company name, or the trad version, but they can't have both.

The system is complicated and occasionally ways can be found that will allow you to get around the blocks during a drop/registration. Doesn't always work, but still...