The top-level domain (TLD) “XN—ROVU88B” is an Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) representation for the native script TLD “.商标”, which translates to “.trademark” in English. IDNs are essential to enhance the internet’s accessibility and usability by those who do not use the Latin script, hence they are encoded in ASCII characters, suitable for the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet.
IDNs use a technology called Punycode, which is a method for converting non-Latin characters into ASCII, usable, and recognizable forms. Here, “XN—ROVU88B” is the Punycode ASCII translation of the Chinese “.商标” (e.g., seamonkey.com would be registered in Chinese as seamonkey.xn—rovu88b).
Hong Kong SAR government was the applicant for this TLD, and it is regulated by the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Ltd. (HKIRC). Registration of .商标 is limited to owners of valid trademarks. Its intended use is for businesses that wish to have their domain names closely tied with their trademarks, providing a closer connection between their web addresses and their brands.
It was introduced in the Root Zone of the Internet’s DNS on 31 March 2015. The delegation record for this TLD is publicly available on the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) website.
Regarding TLD applications, IANA follows a rigorous process to ensure the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet’s unique identifier systems. IANA is part of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which manages these domains globally.
In conclusion, “xn—rovu88b” is the Punycode representation of the “.商标” TLD, a system that enables internet users to register and use domain names in non-Latin scripts. The system thus bridges the language gap and makes website addresses more accessible to a broader audience.
Sources:
1. ICANN, New gTLD Program, Applicant Guidebook,
1. IANA, Root Zone Database,
1. RFC 3492, Punycode: A Bootstring encoding of Unicode for
Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA),
1. ICANN, Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Program,
1. HKIRC, General Registration Policies, [https://www.hkirc.hk/company_info/reference_documents.jsp](https://www.hkirc.hk/company_info/reference_documents.jsp)
