Archive for the ‘Domain Names’ Category
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
As has been widely reported, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) recently approved the Internationalized Domain Name Fast Track Process at its Open Meeting in Seoul on October 30, 2009. Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) are domain names featuring non-Latin characters before and after “the dot” – for example, imagine the domain name trademarkblog.ca where both the “trademarkblog” and the “ca” (thought it wouldn’t be .ca) are both written in Chinese characters.
The IDN Fast Track launched on November 16, 2009. As of that date, nations and territories can apply to ICANN for Internet extensions reflecting their name in characters from their national language. Criteria for acceptance include government and community support and a stability evaluation. If applications meet the criteria, successful national and territorial applicants will be approved to start accepting registrations. It is expected that use of non-Latin based scripts may begin sometime in 2010. ICANN states that as of November 16th they have already received six requests from countries/territories representing three different languages.
Perhaps jumping the gun a bit, the Russian domain name registry .RU is already accepting sunrise applications for Cyrillic character trademarks for the Cyrillic translation of .RU, although ICANN has not yet granted this extension. DotAsia announced that it plans to release IDN registrations in 2010.
While the launch of IDNs is welcome news to those who don’t use Latin characters, brand owners will want to consider carefully how best to obtain protection of their trademarks with these new IDNs. For example, careful consideration should be given to exactly how a trademark is translated into the foreign characters and also whether a registration of a transliteration or a phonetic interpretation of the trademark is warranted.
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Proactive registrations can save money
Monday, August 31st, 2009
According to a recent study by the domain management and brand protection company Corporation Service Company (CSC), more money is being spent on reclaiming domain names from third parties through the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP”) than if brand owners had registered the domains proactively.
Under the study, all UDRP cases filed between January 2000 and May 2009 with the two major UDRP providers were analyzed. The study found that more than $220 million was spent on UDRP proceedings in the period, but proactive registration of domain names would have cost only $1.1 million – a potential savings of $219 million.
Interestingly, CSC’s study indicates that of the domains that were reclaimed by brand owners, almost 4,000 have been subsequently lapsed and are available again for registration. As well, apparently 3,000 domains that were reclaimed lapsed and then were re-registered – sometimes by third parties.
The results of the study underscore the importance of proactive registration and brand management in saving both time and money.
Posted in Branding, Domain Names | No Comments »
Trademark Clearinghouse To Help Combat Cybersquatting?
Friday, July 17th, 2009
A story earlier this week reported that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – the organization charged with oversight of the Internet, including the creation of new generic top level domains (gTLD’s) – is considering setting up a centralized database of trademarks to help combat cybersquatting and other negative domain name registration practices. The proposed IP Clearinghouse would be a depository for trademarks and provide unified rules for trademark holders to block domain name registrations that include use of such trademarks, unless the applicant can prove that its proposed use will be legitimate.
This proposal will be closely monitored by the trademark community as ICANN continues to move forward with its controversial proposal to exponentially expand the number of gTLDs. The concern of trademark holders is that the task of protecting their brands online, which is already difficult enough with the existing gTLDs, will become prohibitively expensive.
The idea of the IP Clearinghouse was one of the recommendations outlined in the Final Report on Trademark Protection of ICANN’s Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT). At the recent ICANN meeting in Sydney, the IRT presented its report. The IRT Final Report was open for public comment until June 29, 2009. ICANN might not make a final decision on the idea until late 2009, at which time it could potentially decide on a variation of the IP Clearinghouse, depending on the public comments that it receives.
Though it appears to be a moving target at the moment, the launch of the new gTLDs could potentially take place as early as February or March of 2010.
Posted in Domain Name Disputes, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Protection & Enforcement | No Comments »