Trademark-based eligibility for country code domains

A local presence is an address, a company or a contact in the country. When you have none, a registrar can provide one under a written agreement with you: that is what our local presence service does for many extensions. With trademark-based eligibility, the right to register comes from your own trademark, and in most cases the domain is registered in your name as the holder of the trademark.

The two can also go together. Some registries that accept a trademark held by a foreign owner still ask for a local administrative contact, representative or agent: Saudi Arabia and Egypt do, and so does Thailand for a trademark owner of another nationality.

Each registry writes its own list, and the differences matter:

• A national registration. Most rules ask for a trademark registered with the office of the country: under the Canadian Trademarks Act for .ca, on the database of IP Australia for .au, in Saudi Arabia for .sa, with the Department of Intellectual Property of Thailand for .co.th.
• An international registration. A few rules name WIPO or an international certificate. The Egyptian registry accepts a trademark registered internationally under the Madrid system, the .ie Domain Registry a WIPO trademark enforceable in Ireland, and NIC.DZ a registration from WIPO for .tm.dz. The .jo registry asks foreign companies that do not operate in Jordan for an international trademark certificate.
• A European Union trade mark. The .ie Domain Registry accepts a European Union trade mark number.
• An application. auDA accepts an Australian application once its status is published or accepted, and the .ae policy accepts the applicant for a UAE trademark for .co.ae and .net.ae. CIRA asks for a registered trademark.

In most cases, yes. auDA requires an exact match of the words of the trademark, leaving out punctuation, the articles "a", "the", "and" and "of", and ampersands. CIRA limits the .ca domain to one that consists of or includes the exact word component of the registered trademark. THNIC requires the domain to match exactly the reading of the trademark shown on its registration certificate, and NIC Monaco asks for an exact match.

Two rules leave more room. SaudiNIC accepts a name that matches the trademark or is derived from it, by removing letters or words, adding a word or transliterating it, but not by abbreviating it. The .ae policy accepts, for .co.ae and .net.ae, an exact match, an acronym, an abbreviation or a name closely connected to the trademark.

• The trademark must stay in force. auDA requires the Australian presence for the whole licence period, and the licence is cancelled when it ends, for example when a foreign holder's Australian trademark registration lapses. SaudiNIC asks the registrant to stay in one of its eligible categories for the whole registration term.
• The registry asks for documents. Usually the trademark number or a copy of the registration certificate, sometimes with a letter of authorisation, as in Jordan and Thailand.
• The other rules still apply. A trademark answers the question of eligibility only. The rules of each second level, such as .net.ae for IT services, the naming rules and the reserved names still apply.

The Canadian Presence Requirements for Registrants of CIRA (version 1.3) list who may register and hold a .ca domain. Paragraph 2 includes a person that meets none of the other conditions but owns a trademark registered under the Trademarks Act (Canada). The permission is limited to a .ca domain that consists of or includes the exact word component of that registered trademark.

The rule speaks of a registration, so an application is not enough. The holder of an official mark published at its request under subsection 9(1) of the Trademarks Act benefits from a similar rule. Our .ca page gives the other rules and the prices.

The Licensing Rules of auDA (amended on 23 June 2026) count the applicant for or owner of an Australian trademark among the persons with an Australian presence, but only for a domain name that is an exact match of the words of the trademark (paragraphs 1.4.1 and 2.4.5). An Australian trademark is a registered trademark, or an application whose status is published or accepted, on the trademark database of IP Australia. A foreign company or person that holds or has applied for one is also a commercial entity for .com.au and .net.au.

The exact match leaves out the .com.au part, punctuation, the articles "a", "the", "and" and "of", and ampersands. The presence must last for the whole licence, and the licence is cancelled when it ends: auDA gives the example of a foreign natural person whose Australian trademark registration has lapsed (paragraphs 2.11.5 and 2.11.6). See our .au and .com.au pages.

The .ie Domain Registry reserves .ie to those based in the island of Ireland or with a real connection to it. In the part of its Registration and Naming policy (2023) on the connection to the island of Ireland, it accepts evidence from a trademark holder that it holds a trademark enforceable in Ireland, such as the trademark number or a digital copy of the certificate. Under Registered Trademarks, its document requirements list the numbers that a trademark holder can give as evidence of both the connection to Ireland and the commercial identity: an Irish trademark, a European Union trade mark, or a WIPO trademark enforceable in Ireland.

The domain is registered to the holder of the trademark, never to the trademark itself. The holder of another trademark can mention it, but must then give separate evidence of its connection to Ireland, such as sales invoices showing that it sells to customers in the island of Ireland, and of its commercial identity. See our .ie page.

The Saudi Domain Names Registration Regulations of SaudiNIC (version 5.0, February 2024) open registration services to four categories; clause 4-1-4 is the owner of a trademark or trade name registered in Saudi Arabia. Clause 4-3-2 opens .com.sa to entities with a Saudi commercial registration and to locally registered trade names and trademarks, and .sa takes any natural or legal person in an eligible category.

When the name is based on the trademark, SaudiNIC's registrant and domain relationship criteria ask for a label that matches the trademark or is derived from it, without abbreviation. The regulation also defines the administrative contact as a person or entity based in Saudi Arabia (clause 2-7), and its Arabic text is the official one. See our .sa and .com.sa pages.

The registry of .eg, run by the Egyptian Universities Network of the Supreme Council of Universities, lists the documents for .com.eg, .net.eg and .info.eg. For companies outside Egypt, it asks for a trademark for the name, registered in Egypt or registered internationally under the Madrid system with WIPO, and the company must have a representative or agent in Egypt.

For .eg itself, the price list of the registry has an EG Global category for foreign companies and entities, and its domain selection rules accept a name registered in the name of a trademark, proved by a registered trademark certificate. See our .com.eg and .eg pages.

.ae itself is unrestricted: the .ae Domain Name Policy (AEDA-POL-007, version 1.1) asks for no documentary evidence. Its restricted zones differ. For .co.ae, the registrant holds a UAE trade licence, is licensed in a UAE free zone, or has applied for or registered a trademark in the UAE (section 11.1). For .net.ae, the trademark must be for an IT service or product (section 12.1).

In both zones the name must be an exact match, an acronym or an abbreviation of, or closely connected to, the name, trading name or trademark of a company that the registrant controls or in which it holds 50% or more. See our .co.ae, .net.ae and .ae pages.

The registration policy of the THNIC Foundation (revised in March 2024, in Thai) lists the owners of trademarks registered with the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce among the holders of .co.th domains and of second-level .th domains (clauses 5.3.2.1 and 5.3.2.2). A business or trademark owner of another nationality qualifies through a representative it appoints in Thailand, a natural person or a business registered under Thai law, which holds the domain on its behalf.

A domain based on a trademark registered in Thailand or abroad must match exactly the reading of the trademark shown on its registration certificate or a related document (clause 7.7.3). For .in.th, the policy also lets the owner of a foreign trademark register the trademark name to protect its rights before it has an office or representative in Thailand, provided the domain stays inactive until it has one. See our .co.th, .th and .in.th pages.

The naming charter of .tn, adopted by decision no. 141 of the Instance Nationale des Télécommunications of 24 July 2013 and published by the Agence Tunisienne d'Internet, lists three groups of eligible applicants in article 8.1. Next to legal persons formed under Tunisian law and adults of Tunisian nationality or officially resident in Tunisia, it names the holders or legal representatives of an international trademark filed in Tunisia.

The charter is written in French. Our .tn page gives the price and the other rules of the registration.

The Domain Name Policy for .DZ of NIC.DZ (October 2018) creates .tm.dz for entities based abroad that own trademarks protected in Algeria and have no document showing an activity or presence in Algeria (article 4). The supporting document is a copy of the trademark registration from INAPI, the Algerian office, or from WIPO (article 9).

.tm.dz is not in our catalogue today. If you need it, ask us.

NIC Monaco is a service of the Direction des Plateformes et des Ressources Numériques. Its naming charter, annexed to Ministerial Order no. 2022-38 of 21 January 2022, lists the holders of Monegasque trademarks filed or protected in Monaco among those who may register a .mc domain (article 4.1). Its practical guide (version 2.0 of 10 January 2022) states that the holder of a trademark registered in Monaco, or in another country with protection covering Monaco, can obtain the .mc domain that corresponds to the trademark, subject to validation by NIC Monaco.

The domain must correspond to the trademark as shown on its registration certificate (article 5.5 of the charter), and a copy of that certificate is the document to provide. The rules page of NIC Monaco says that it does not accept requests from individuals, while article 4.1 of the charter lists trademark holders without that limit. See our .mc page.

The registration policy of the .jo registry, run by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and last updated on 13 June 2024 (in Arabic), has a list of documents for foreign companies that do not operate in Jordan. The main ones are an international trademark certificate with its number, and an authorisation from the trademark owner to manage its domains in Jordan, on its letterhead, signed and stamped. A certified power of attorney can be asked instead or in addition.

The policy prefers a name that matches the trademark and studies other names case by case. Our .jo page adds that the administrative contact must be based in Jordan, which we provide.

1. Check the rule. Read the row of your extension above and its page on our site, which says under Registration whether documents are required.
2. Prepare the documents. The registry asks for documents such as the trademark number or a copy of the registration certificate, and sometimes a letter of authorisation, as in Jordan and Thailand. Then register the domain from its page on our site.
3. Keep the trademark in force. SaudiNIC can ask for documents at any time, and the .au licence is cancelled when the Australian presence ends, for example when a foreign holder's trademark registration lapses.

Our trademark registration service files trademarks in more than 200 countries, with a price per country on its page. Every country in the table above is on that list, and so is the European Union trade mark that the .ie Domain Registry accepts.

A trademark search report before filing lists the earlier marks that could stand in the way. The domain follows once the trademark is registered, or, for .au, .co.ae and .net.ae, once the application qualifies under the registry's rule.

A trademark takes time to register, and many restricted extensions accept a local presence instead. The table on our local presence page shows, for each extension, the condition of the registry and our yearly price, or On request.

Where the table shows On request, ask us whether we can provide one. Where we cannot, a trademark may then be the route for a holder without a company in the country.