The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (icann.org) said last week it was considering eliminating some outdated domain name extensions, according to reports.

ICANN began accepting public comments in Sao Paulo, Brazil this week on how to revoke certain outdated suffixes, primarily those assigned with countries that no longer exist. ICANN currently controls 265 Domain Name extensions.

The corporation says the Soviet Union’s .su is on the top of the list for deletion and the former Yugoslav republic’s .yu is also being taken into consideration.

Some domain names that have already become obsolete include Great Britain’s .gb, which has been replaced by .uk, East Germany’s .dd and Zaire’s .zr after the country became the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

ICANN said it wanted to establish a formal policy and will be accepting comments online until Jan. 31 2007.

Kommersant Daily wrote Monday that if the corporation goes ahead with its plan many Russian companies may suffer losses. Some of them have already threatened ICANN with lawsuits.

The domain .su was registered in September 1990. But in 1994 when Russia’s .ru was introduced the registration of .su names was suspended to be resumed in December 2002 only for brand owners. A year later the .su extension again became available to all users.

The Soviet-era Domain Names are five times more expensive than .ru. Registering a domain name with the ’outdated’ suffix costs $100 excl. VAT while .ru, .com and .net domains cost only $20 each.

Today, there are approximately 8,000 domain names registered with the .su ending in the Internet. Elimination of the Soviet-era suffix may cause considerable damage to their owners, who have already put up cash for advertising of their websites. Some of those companies have already said that they could sue ICANN.

One of those is the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, whose website is registered with the .su suffix. “Should the domain be eliminated our lawyers will examine the issue and will stand up for the movement’s rights in court,” Nashi spokesman Robert Shlegel told Kommersant.