BOSTON, November 4 /PRNewswire/ -- EnCirca, Inc. (www.encirca.com), registrar for the .Pro Internet Domain, announced that the rules for the new .Pro domain have been relaxed, allowing legal, medical and accounting professionals to register more memorable Internet addresses.

Delayed Land Rush Now Starts December 10
When .Pro launches on December 10, addresses in the form "xyz.pro" will now be available to any registrant satisfying the requirements for a corresponding law.pro, med.pro or cpa.pro internet address. Approval for second-level domains was granted to the .Pro registry during the ICANN Board meeting held recently in Carthage, Tunisa.

ICANN is the non-profit corporation that was formed to assume responsibility for the introduction of new top-level domains such as .Pro. .Pro is one of seven new domain extensions approved by ICANN designed to offer the Internet community alternatives to .com.

"Many of our clients have expressed a desire for second level .Pro addresses." states Thomas Barrett, CEO of EnCirca. "Lawyers, Doctors and Accountants will now have a short memorable internet address they can use to brand themselves."

EnCirca is accepting pre-registrations for the .Pro land rush scheduled for December 10. "We expect .Pro to become a more popular choice for professionals now that they can get an address such as 'books.pro' in addition to 'books.med.pro',", says Barrett.

.Pro Provides Secure Email
Initially offered to doctors, lawyers and accountants, the .Pro solution is designed to assist professionals who have heightened confidentiality obligations in securing online communications such as client correspondence, patient information, court, tax, and insurance filings. All registrants must provide proof of their eligibility in order to qualify for a .Pro domain. In return, they are issued a digital certificate that will authenticate their online communications.

"For the first time, professionals will be able to utilize the same security technology that the leading e-commerce websites use to interact with their customers," said Thomas Barrett, Chief Executive Officer of EnCirca. "This is accomplished via digital certificates that encrypt all data communications involving client and patient information," according to Barrett.

Trademark Owners Have Until November 10 to Protect their Intellectual Property
To protect the rights of trademark owners, the .Pro registry has extended their ProBlock Defensive Registration service to include second-level .Pro domains. With the initial plan for .Pro domains such as 'books.med.pro', trademark owners had little reason to be concerned about potential consumer confusion.

But with the more generic possibilities such as 'books.pro', trademark owners should consider whether to protect their intellectual property since it is now more likely that there will be consumer confusion. The registry's deadline for accepting Defensive Registrations from trademark owners is November 10.

About EnCirca
Founded in 2001, EnCirca, Inc. (http://www.EnCirca.com) is an accredited registrar for the .Pro registry. It provides domain name registration services to trademark owners worldwide. Visit http://www.encirca.com for more information.

CONTACTS:

EnCirca PR
Kate Doyle
781.942.9975
pr(at)encirca.com

EnCirca CEO
Thomas Barrett
781.942.9975
tom(at)encirca.com