Pass all domains through encode('idna') in NICClient This makes sure that non-ascii domains will be properly encoded in punnycode before sending the whois query to the server.

{"updated_date": ["14-apr-2008"], "expiration_date": ["14-apr-2009"], "status": ["ok"], "domain_name": ["URLOWL.COM", "urlowl.com"], "creation_date": ["14-apr-2008"]}