New extensions and trademarks
As you know by now, the biggest news of 2013 will be the arrival of the first round of new extensions. More than 500 new registries will emerge to manage a set of nearly 1,500 new TLDs. Obviously, the idea is to multiply the number of available names, and this can only multiply the difficulties when it comes to protecting your trademark. This is where the sp (TMCH) comes into play.
What is it?
To put it simply, the Trademark Clearinghouse is an institution which will focus on centralizing management of trademark-related issues.
More specifically, ICANN has requested the creation of a unique service to manage trademark registrations. This service will be managed by two heavyweights in their respective fields: IBM will handle the technical aspects; Deloitte, the validation procedures. Together, their role will be to verify the rights of registered trademark holders and to facilitate priority registrations during defensive registration periods (Sunrise) or to alert markholders by email when a domain name identical to their trademark has been registered within a 90-day window after the end of a Sunrise period.
Who can sign up?
Any natural or legal person with documented rights to a given national or regional brand (EU and international) is eligible. There are several restrictions on the use of a trademark as a domain name. For example, brands which contain periods or intellectual property rights which cannot be handled by the DNS (e.g. patents and designs) will not be accepted. It will be possible to replace spaces and other punctuation marks contained in trademarks with dashes, and translated versions of symbols such as & and @ can be used, in the language of the trademark jurisdiction (e.g. “and” and “at” for English-language brands)
What can Gandi offer?
We are pleased to offer trademark-based registration management and early-warning notifications through Gandi Corporate Services.
If you are not a Gandi Corporate customer, you only need to subscribe for at least one month on this page: https://www.gandi.net/corporate/souscrire
Gandi Corporate offers complete support for trademark registrations under TMCH and for monitoring for domains registered which violate your intellectual property rights (Claims Services) available at the following rates:
One-year registration (per brand): 190 euros (including TMCH fees of $145) and 190 euros per renewal (for protection under extensions that have not been released yet)
Three-year registration (per brand): 520 euros (including TMCH fees of $435)
Five-year registration (per brand): 830 euros (including TMCH fees of $725)
Knowing that the first extensions will be available by June (according to ICANN estimates) and that the rest will follow over the following 20 to 22 months, it seems smart to take a 3-year package (or 5 years if you want to be ready for the second wave of new extensions!).
Lastly, for bulk purchases, contact us for volume pricing.
If you are interested in our offer or if just want more specific details, we invite you to contact us at tmch@gandi.net.
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