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JamesD
20th April 2012, 12:54 PM
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
20th April 2012, 01:15 PM
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
20th April 2012, 01:51 PM
Thanks - so they will never be available to reg?

sunsei21
20th April 2012, 02:09 PM
if the other one drops i guess they both become available. but if one is registered both are registered

JamesD
20th April 2012, 02:53 PM
Ok, thanks.

Ryu
21st April 2012, 03:31 PM
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
21st April 2012, 07:17 PM
One of the ones I was refering to was 学校.com (school)...if it looks too good to be true, etc.

squirrel
21st April 2012, 07:26 PM
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
23rd April 2012, 02:14 AM
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... :)