simon sent in an item noting that new.net has partnered with Domainoo, a leading domain name registrar in France (and whose URL means "the name" in French).

Interestingly, when simon pointed this out recently I went to the site. I have now gone there again and a new and prominent link has appeared: Noms avec accents! [names with accents]. It points to a bestsrs.com URL, which is a site for register.com affiliates. My French is a little rusty so perhaps someone with a better grasp of la belle language could point me to where it says these domains are part of a testbed.

I had originally followed simon's tip looking for evidence that domainoo/lenom were an ICANN accredited registrar. I saw no mention (admittedly without an exhaustive review of their site or a refresher course in French) of them being an ICANN accredited registrar. I also searched for them in vain here. There are any number of resellers (affiliates who are a level below the ICANN accredited registrars) out there who can presumably do pretty much as they please with regard to partnerships or claims or w.h.y., subject of course to the jurisdiction in which they are located. -g