New Top Level Domains: Brand Protection Considerations

WESFACCA September 13, 2011

Martin Schwimmer, Esq.

Leason Ellis LLP Intellectual Property Attorneys http://www.leasonellis.com

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How Many gTLDs Now?

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.COM .NET .ORG .INFO .BIZ .EU .EDU .GOV .NAME

.MOBI .CAT .ASIA .PRO .TRAVEL .COOP .AERO .JOBS .MUSEUM

.INT .TEL .MIL .ARPA

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Domain Name Statistics

.COM 97M registrations .NET 14M .ORG 9M .INFO 8M (2/3 of all registrations)

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How Do gTLDs Fare?

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.COM 55.2% of all domains regs .NET 6.5% .ORG 4.2% .INFO 1.9% .BIZ 0.4% .EU - 0.4% .EDU 0.3% .GOV 0.1%

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How Many New TLD Applications?

Estimated up to 500 New Applications in this Batch

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When Can We Apply?

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January 12, 2012 Through April 12, 2012

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How Much Will Filing Cost?

$185,000 Application Fee Cost of Producing the Application

Cost of Maintaining a Registry

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What TLDs Are People Filing For?

Rumor lists: Registries.Tel NewDomains.Org Valideus.com/Resources/gtlds-list/

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What TLDs Are People Filing For?

Cities Geographical Regions Cultural communities Keywords Brands

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Dot Examples (Reported)

CITIES: .BERLIN, .KOLN, .NYC

REGIONS: .AND (Andalucia), .SCO (Scotland)

COMMUNITIES: .FRA (Francophone), .IRISH

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More Dot Examples

.KEYWORDS :
.SPORT .SECURE .BANK .MONEY .RADIO
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Dot Brands

.CANON .HITACHI

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Why Is ICANN Doing This?

ICANN FAQ: One of ICANN's key commitments is to promote competition in the domain name market while ensuring Internet security and stability. New generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) help achieve that commitment.

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Will New TLDs Change The Way The DNS Works?

Probably Not.

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Is This The Only Opportunity To Apply?

Probably not, but this round could take years to process.

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Who Gets The Money?

ICANN: [We are] a nfp and this is a nfp initiative. The program is designed to be self-funding . . . If the fee collection exceeds ICANN's expenses, the community will be consulted as to how that excess should be used.

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Who Gets The Money?

The $185k is for application processing by ICANN 1/3 of that is reserved for litigation. No provision for monies from Auctions

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WHAT SHOULD THE BRAND OWNER WORRY ABOUT?

Among Other Things: 1. Cyber-squatting 2. String-contention 3. Competition

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Cyber-Squatting

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Old Concepts: UDRP and Sunrise Periods New Concepts: Trademark Clearinghouse, Trademark Claims, Service, Uniform Rapid Suspension [Required of All new Registries]

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Cyber-Squatting: Trademark Clearinghouse

A Repository For Storing Trademark Registration Information Submitted By Trademark Owners It is not conclusive evidence of rights

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Cyber-Squatting: Trademark Claims Service

Clearing house registrants will receive notification of third-party land-rush registrations

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Cyber-squatting: Sunrise

Clearinghouse Registrants will receive notice of third-party Sunrise registrations

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Cyber-Squatting: Uniform Rapid Suspension

UDRP lite Suspension, not Transfer. 2 to 3 Weeks Then the name is up for grabs

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String Objection Process

String Confusion Legal Rights Objections Community Objections Limited Public Interest Objections UDRP-like pricing After a publication of the TLD appn

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String Objection: String Confusion

May be brought by another applicant or an existing registry .WEB vs .WEB

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String Objection: Legal Rights Objections To Strings

May be brought by a Trademark Holder Coca Cola vs .cocacola

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String Objection: Community Objections

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Objection from a significant portion of the community explicitly or implicitly targeted, brought by an institution associated with that community. You do not represent my people!

String Objection: Limited Public Interest Objection

The

string is contrary to generally accepted legal norms of morality and public order. The anti-dirty word provision.
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ICANN Applicant Guidebook

http://www.icann.org/en

/topics/new-gtlds/dagen.htm

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Should We Apply?
Fundamentally

a marketing decision So marketing should pay for it.

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SHOULD WE APPLY? BRAND CONSIDERATIONS

Defensive String Contention? Defensive Keyword TLDs? Protecting Your Authorized Sales Channel Creating a Trusted Zone
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Marty Schwimmer, Esq. LEASON ELLIS LLP

@trademarkblog @leasonellis
Intellectual Property Attorneys E-mail: schwimmer@leasonellis.com Web: www.leasonellis.com One Barker Avenue, Fifth Floor White Plains, NY 10601 Phone: (914) 821-9075 Fax: (914) 288-0023

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