I've just learnt that Tom Cruise – you know, the Scientologist nut what does movies – has gone to WIPO to win back TomCruise.com.

The complaint – D2006-0560 – was put in yesterday and is pending a compliance review. Tom Cruise – or more likely his minions – have been very, very slow in noticing this Internet thing. The domain was registered in November 1996 – nearly ten years ago!

And there have been dozens of famous people going to WIPO or the courts to get back their namesake domains. The most Net-savvy was doing it back in 1999. I know because I've been following domain disputes closely for years.

I have little doubt that this sudden interest in the Net is because Tom Cruise is increasingly becoming a figure of ridicule on the Net. There's my favourite – TomCruise is nuts.com – and then the video of him killing Oprah Winfrey. And then FreeKatie.net. And then all the sites that go on about him being gay. And the South Park episode thing… It goes on and on, and no doubt Mr Cruise had just noticed that people aren't being as respectful as they should be. Just wait for those lawsuits online friends.

What is also interesting is that, surprise, surprise, it is Jeff Burgar, this time under his dba Alberta Hot Rods that owns the domain. Mr Burgar has to be the most notorious cybersquatter in the history of the Net. He also isn't scared of fighting his corner and often hires a lawyer to push his point. He's had some notable success, including beating Bruce Springsteen to BruceSpringsteen.com and Kevin Spacey in court for KevinSpacey.com (although he lost KevinSpacy.com).

More interesting from a UK perspective , Jeffrey Archer – yes, the shamed Tory peer, liar, perjurer, prostitute user and briber, ego-maniac and author – has also gone to WIPO, again against Burgar to get hold of JeffreyArcher.com. Archer filed his complaint on 18 April. We'll see what happens.

I've done a story for The Register, complete with links to previous stories I've done on this area.

And as a quick update, the man who noticed the WIPO request first – George Kirikos – has been looking about and discovered that Cruise has also gone for – and won – TomCruise.net. It's now in the hands of domain specialists Trout & Zimmer.

Interestingly, Trout & Zimmer's own site is dead: “Account for domain troutzimmer.com has been suspended.”

The site as it was previously can be seen on the Wayback Machine – it has basically always been a placeholder, most recently – and for at least two years – stating simply: “If you are interested in purchasing this domain name, please email me at: officergray1039@aol.com.”

Mr Cruise is on a mission. And this one isn't impossible.

Well, I was sceptical that people would want .eu domains. What's the point? Do people really feel that European? If they want a domain, why not just buy a .com or their own country's domain. Apart from Germany and the UK, most other European countries have surprisingly few domains registered.

But boy was I wrong. By the end of the first day – the first day! – of .eu domains being open to the public, EURid had sold over one million of them. I called EURid up and they admitted that while they were expecting to sell one million, they had expected it to take a few months.

This morning it is now at 1.27 million (plus 300,000 registrations during the sunrise period) – making it the seventh biggest Internet registry in just two days. Here's a list I've knocked up from the most recent stats:

And what is even more remarkable is how popular .eu has been with those of us in the UK. As a country that has always had a difficult relationship with Europe, it's hard to see why the new domain would be so popular with Brits. Even EURid was stumped.

I think the simple answer is that the UK is very Net-savvy. After four hours of .eu domains being available it was the UK that had registered the most. But this has now changed to Germany out in front (394,000), followed by the UK (265,000), then the Netherlands (150,000), Italy (80,000), Cyprus (?! – 73,000), Sweden (62,000) and France (50,000) in that order. You can see the latest stats here.

I suspect there is alot of buy-to-resell going on. There is a value to a .eu domain, a big chunk of it provided by the fact that it has got a fair amount of coverage – much more so in Europe that the releases of other new top-level domains like .info or .biz.

In fact, you can put a pretty good figure on the degree of speculation inherent in domain names by looking at the number of active domains against those that have been deleted in different Net registries. Obviously lots of people buy domains for a daft reason and then never get around to using them and then don't bother to pay to renew them when they come up. But that is a small chunk of it, most of it is speculation.

And that figure is 1:2. Or, put it another way, about a third of domain registrations will be used. Dotcom is obviously the most extreme – it has 50 million active domains but 115 million deleted domains. But dot-net has 7.4 million active and 13.3 deleted. Dot-org has 4.5 and 10.5 respectively. The more recent registries where the renewal process hasn't been through two iterations yet have a lower ratio. Dot-info has 2.7 million active and 3.5 deleted. And dot-biz, 1.4m active and just 761,000 deleted.

But getting away from all the stats – there is clearly something big that has happened here. Every-day people have gone piling in to this new domain. Have we unknowingly hit a moment of wider societal awareness of the Internet and its variations? Has the .xxx controversy made people more aware that there is more than just dotcom?

Or are these massive registrations an indication of wider anti-American feeling? It's something that people do their best to ignore but the simple fact is that a very, very large number of people across the world hold the current US administration in contempt because of the War on Terror and all the associated events of the past five years. Do people feel a sense of pride in having something that isn't American – something that is “Europe”?

Or is it just a sense of excitement in there being a new domain that you are likely to be able to get the name that you want? After all, only people in the EU are allowed to buy the domains, so competition is far smaller than a truly global top-level domain.

I think it's a combination of all of the above: speculation; awareness; anti-Americanism; and the chance of actually getting what you want.

What the huge success of .eu does highlight however, and again, is the inadequacies of Net overseeing organisation ICANN. There is this faintly ridiculous game played with new gTLDs at ICANN. One, it restricts the number of top-level domains people can have, then it creates an opaque and at time ridiculous system for deciding what new TLDs there can be, and then it points and laughs at the domains when they don't do as well as the existing domains, claiming that it is right not to release any more domains.

The huge registrations of the .eu domains say one thing very, very loudly in my view: ICANN – YOU DO NOT KNOW BEST WHEN IT COMES TO TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS!!!    

The .eu domain did not come from any ICANN process. In fact, it would never have emerged from the US-centric, US-blinkered organisation. It was pushed by the European Union, and ICANN was wise enough not to stand in the EU's way. It has taken bloody ages to get up and running, but it demonstrates if nothing else that ICANN is in fact getting in the way of people wanting to use the Net the way they want, as opposed to aiding them.

I think ICANN really has started to realise this, although its instinct is still to control every element, because it has somehow all become about power. The most stupid control element it has just put in place is the requirements it expects everyone to reach in future if they are even going to be taken seriously for a new TLD bid. They need this number of staff etc etc – it works out at $250,000. And then there is ICANN's fee for even deeming to consider the new TLD. ICANN is getting right in the way.

The next round of new gTLDs will be the most interesting yet. It will really see the Internet pushed and pulled in ways it never has been before and if ICANN doesn't get the system right for approving them, it won't survive the ordeal.

The new, shiny .eu domain – despite having come from the stultifying world of European bureaucracy – has demonstrated the world wants the Internet its way – and that is fast, flexible and open. Another new season of the Internet is upon us.

If you feel the need to buy your own piece of the Internet today, then you're luck is in.

It is the first day that the new .eu domains are open to the general public – so get stuck in. Previously, there have been two “sunrise” periods where companies, organisations and other such creations have been able to grab their namesake in this new part of the Internet, but now everyone is welcome to join in.

I wonder whether these sunrise periods over a form of protection to someone that registers a domain that a company subsequently puts claims to. After all, they have set aside a special time period to register the domain – you only have to show they were aware of this and then you could argue that they have demonstrated their lack of interest in the name by not registering it.

Not that I'll be going Microsoft.eu any time soon. Actually, that has of course already gone – although you wouldn't know it as EURid's Whois appears to have collapsed under the strain at the moment.

Do people really want a .eu domain? I suppose we will get the first indications on Monday. In the meantime, enjoy these odd .eu facts I dug up for an article in The Times a fortnight ago – Sex.eu and other domain stories.

I did a news story yesterday for The Times on the new .eu domain, and it proved to be more interesting than I thought.

The new domain – which shouldn't actually exist under the ICANN rules for top-level domains, but when the EU's 29 countries are breathing down you're neck… – is due to be opened up to the public in just under a month's time, 7 April, and we're currently in the sunrise period for trademark holders to grab domains and so prevent cybersquatting and subsequent legal batles.

Actually there's an interesting question: if a company *fails* to register its.eu namesake and then a member of the public grabs it, surely that individual would have a pretty strong case in keeping it by arguing the company had been given plenty of time to grab it and had failed?

Anyway, the interesting review of the domains comes thanks to the tremendous stats provided by EURid, which offer big, real-time breakdowns including Total number of applications; Total number of accepted applications; Total number of rejected applications, all according to individual country. In addition, the EURid whois provided a tremendous amount of details over who has applied for the domain and when.

For example, Amazon has applied 22 times for its domain; Skype 16 times. But Google only once – although 11 others have also applied, and it's first-come, first-served.

The stats also provide a political and social map of Europe. The Germans are roaring ahead in applications – much as they are in real-world domain application – the .de top-level domain is second only to the dotcom registry.

The Brits should be next but instead we come fourth with 9 percent of applications – something that demonstrates more than anything this island's peculiar love-hate relationship with Europe.

I like the fact as well that Volkswagen got to Polo.eu first, beating Ralph Lauren and its Polo clothing range, and Nestle and its Polo mints.

I wonder how many more clashes have taken place. And I wonder how many grabbable domains will be left on 7 Apr. It's all up there to find out.

Most of all I wonder how successful the .eu domain will be in the real world. There have been 301,000 applications for 219,000 domains but then this a sunrise period and it makes sense for companies to grab their domains because it costs them comparatively nothing and there is the risk that .eu could become a big domain in future.

But the real test will come when everyone can buy a .eu domain. Will people really want them? What does .eu do that others don't? Do people feel that European? We shall see.

Oh yes, as for most popular domains – guess what – Sex.eu comes top. The Top Ten reads:

1. sex (272 applications)
2. hotel (135)
3. hotels (108)
4. travel (107)
5. business (101)
6. jobs (101)
7. casino (101)
8. poker (87)
9. golf (83)
10. music (77)

And there you have it.