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The Dangers of Building a Brand on a Tenuous Country Code

By John Yunker Author and founder of Byte Level Research

About two years ago I wrote with concern about Bit.ly’s use of Libya’s country code.

I noted that It’s always important to keep in mind that a company can’t “own” a domain the way it owns real estate.

Now it appears that companies that have built brand names on Libya’s country code are facing difficult times. TechCrunch writes that Letter.ly and Abrupt.ly have lost their domains as a result of the Libyan crisis.

What about Bit.ly you may wonder?

Awhile back, Bit.ly registered J.mp, which I speculated at the time was part of a plan to fully migrate away from .ly.

Perhaps the time to make the migration is now.

PS: I’ve compiled a list country codes used to creatively build brand names.

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By John Yunker, Author and founder of Byte Level Research

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