The .co domain is Colombia's country code top level domain. The
administration of the .uk.co, which should not be confused with the
.co.uk domain, was originally the responsibility of the University
of Bogota.
Two years ago, the University signed an agreement with Net
Registrar, giving the company the right to develop and sell .uk.co
web addresses.
The dispute started in July 2002, when the Colombian government
decided to take over the administration of the .co domain. Under a
decision made by the country's Council of State, the Colombian
Minister of Communications must do this by no later than 31
December 2003.
In December 2002, the University of Bogota informed Net
Registrar of the imminent transfer of the domain administration and
proposed a new contract "to safeguard uk.co registrations for a
short period of time to allow [users] sufficient time to transition
to alternative domain names".
In a statement posted on the www.uk.co web site, the University
claims that Net Registrar "failed to agree the terms of the new
arrangement." According to the statement, this means that the
contract with Net Registrar is terminated and the company is no
longer entitled to operate .uk.co subdomains.
The statement concludes that "Net Registrar is no longer
entitled to permit you to use the uk.co domain names that you had
registered with them."
In response, Net Registrar has stated that it tried to obtain
assurances on the maintenance of the .uk.co subdomain but that such
assurances were never received. The company further states that it
has issued proceedings in the High Court of Bogota to prevent the
termination of the service.
