Priority right

The process of releasing 1-, 2- and 3-character .sk domains caters to holders of relevant trademarks and therefore, before the opening of public auctions, similar to other top-level domains, it provides a special phase for the preferential release of these domains specifically for trademark holders.

The owner of the trademark can submit a request for priority right from October 1 to October 14, 2024.

Attention, do not miss this period, application after it will no longer be possible and it will be necessary to participate in the public auction!

The request can only be made against one of the domains in the list of .sk domains intended for auctions.

Please note that the trademark must exactly correspond to the string of the requested .sk domain (uppercase and lowercase letters, or font style are not distinguished for this purpose), to which the application applies, while special characters may only contain a space (see examples).

 

Examples:

The holder of the trademark “CZ”, “cz” and/or “C Z” can request the application of the priority right to the 1-2-3 Domain “cz.sk”.

The holder of the trademark “C&Z” or “C-Z” cannot apply for the application of the priority right to the 1-2-3 Domain “cz.sk”.

The exception for filing an application are trademarks that contain the 1-2-3 Domain itself, including the .sk chain, i.e. the holder of the trademark “cz.sk” can request the application of the priority right to the 1-2-3 Domain “cz.sk”.

 

The given application will then be professionally assessed, while the condition of the assessment is the payment of a non-refundable administrative fee in the amount of EUR 300 (without VAT, EUR 360 with VAT). This payment must be credited to the following SK-NICU account no later than October 14, 2024:

IBAN: SK1211000000002947173210, SWIFT: TATRSKBX.

In the note for the recipient, it is necessary to indicate the name of the domain to which the fee applies – e.g. in the form “ba domain” or “pre-emptive right to ba“. The assessment will be completed by November 14, 2024 at the latest.

The fee for obtaining the priority right in the case of a successful assessment of the trademark owner’s claim is EUR 3000 (without VAT), which must be paid within 14 calendar days at the latest, otherwise the priority right will not be granted.

If several applicants for the right of priority apply for one domain with a successfully assessed application, a private auction lasting 3 calendar days will take place between them through the SK-NIC Auction System, and the winning amount will become the new amount of the above-mentioned fee.

Access to the Auction System for these interested parties will be provided by SK-NIC. The winner of the auction is the one who in this case gets the priority right to registration.

After the payment of the fee for obtaining the priority right, the second important part occurs – the registration of the .sk domain to which the priority right was obtained. (Attention, the fee for the priority right is not the amount for registering the domain with the registrar.)

To do this, it is necessary to choose a registrar (the list of registrars of .sk domains can be found here), to communicate with SK-NIC the necessary data of the holder and registrar according to the e-mail instructions, and to register the domain within 60 calendar days.

Important notice: If, after obtaining the priority right to domain registration, the registration does not take place within 60 calendar days, the acquired priority right will expire and registration will no longer be possible! In this case, the paid fees will also be forfeited. It will be possible to apply for the domain again only in the public auction.

That’s why it’s important to save the date!