Geography-Based Domain Names

A Los Angeles-based company has worked out a licensing deal with the Southeast Asia nation of Laos to companies that want to use the .la Internet top-level domain to businesses that want to use the suffix as part of their Web site addresses. "The deal between dotLA Inc. and the Laotian government is part of a growing trend in which small nations are selling rights to their country-code domains to unofficial domain-name registries. For example, the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu earlier this year signed a similar agreement for its .tv domain with dotTV Corp., which also is headquartered in Los Angeles. DotLA's target customers include businesses in Los Angeles, Louisiana and Latin America."

Thanks to Chris Steins