Companies that have bought '.hk' domain names to protect their brand but have not yet linked them with a server risk losing their virtual property.
Hong Kong Domain Name Registration (HKDNR) recently sent e-mails to between 500 and 600 domain name owners saying domains not connected to at least two internet name servers for at least 90 days would be taken back. Recipients of the e-mail were told they had until December 31 to comply.
Jonathan Shea Tat-on, chief executive of Hong Kong Internet Registration Corp, the registrar's parent company, said the intention was to free up unused domain names for reuse.
'The whole purpose is to ensure that the domain names are effectively utilised,' he said.
But those who missed the December 31 deadline are not at immediate risk of losing their domains. 'There will be at least three e-mails before anything drastic happens,' Mr Shea said, adding that HKDNR would wait until March before taking back unhosted domain names.
Most of the affected domain names were registered with Hong Kong Network Information Centre (HKNIC), the previous registrar in the city. HKNIC charged buyers a $200 flat fee for lifetime domain-name rights - meaning companies that managed to secure names under HKNIC are spared from what are now annual fees. But this policy has left HKDNR with batches of dormant domains belonging to companies no longer interested in keeping them.