Trademark holders and public bodies will now be able to register their own dot-eu suffixed Web addresses starting Wednesday.
According to the EU, the new top-level domain is not intended to replace country-specific Web addresses but rather to complement them, and the European Union is hoping that dot-eu will eventually grow to rival dot-com.
The EU's FAQ on the dot-eu domain explains: "If you view the internet as the global village, then '.eu' is just another street added to it. We of course hope that it will soon become a big boulevard but any European user is of course free to use any other street."
The first dot-eu domain--that of the dot-eu registrar Eurid--is already live, but further domains are expected to appear within the next few weeks, once trademark owners' rights to a URL have been established.
Jo Best of Silicon.com reported from London.
Discuss: Dot-eu domain goes live
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