I registered the domain zentralafrikanischerepublik.de with Go Daddy yesterday. The name is German for "Central African Republic." I just got an email from the required local contact Go Daddy assigned to my name, a lawyer in Germany. He claims that since my domain is the name of a country, I am infringing on third-party rights. He claims that countries have an exclusive right to their state names and that private individuals cannot register country names on any TLD. I now have two days to find a new administrative contact. I've never heard of this stipulation about registering state names before. Are you really not allowed to register country names as domains?
Thats BS, they have no claim to it. You will want to contact a real lawyer either way though, even if you are in the right you can get screwed without one. edit: http://illinois.com/ http://germany.com/ http://croatia.com/ http://ohio.com/ All of the above are states or countries that are privately owned,
I am not sure, what is the German law concerning the .de domains, but it is good to understand that there can be differences concerning the registration of localized domain names. For instance, it is illegal to obtain .fi domain, if your sole purpose is to sell it to someone else with a higher price. If you try to do so, your domain registration will be revoked. So, I think that you should consult a lawyer, who is familiar with the German law.
Those listed domains mean nothing - a german city under a .de extension is a totally different matter.. Look into .de TLD terms of usage, and see for yourself what they allow/dont allow. Chuckun