Get Them While They’re Hot, and Available
Listen up, trademark owners. New top-level domains for sale, and first-come, first-served?
Happily, the answer is , not this time. There’s a new sheriff in town to help protect valuable trademarks from sneaky usurpers.
It’s the new Registry Operators themselves. Of course, they are not doing it for free and it is subject to availability. May change at any time. Results may vary.
If you own or administer any trademarks, whether federally registered or common law, you need to protect your marks.
Besides taking your chances with the “first-come, first-served” registration system, you should consider registering an Intellectual Property Claim for dot-biz, and taking advantage of the “Sunrise Provisions” to register a domain for dot-info. But, it’s a time-limited offer, so act quickly!
– Dot-Biz Is For Business Only
Registry Operator NeuLevel, (www.neulevel.com), says that dot-biz is “the first Internet domain dedicated solely to the needs of businesses around the world.” The dot-biz domain names are intended to be used only for a “bona fide business or commercial use.”
Registrations will not be monitored; however, those registrations that do not appear to be for a bona fide business or commercial use will be subject to a mandatory administrative proceeding known as the restrictions dispute resolution policy.
NeuLevel has now opened the intellectual property claim service, which will remain in effect until July 9. If you are the owner of a common law trademark, a registered trademark, or a pending trademark, you can file an intellectual property claim.
In addition to the usual applicant information, the following additional information must be provided: account owner contact information; trademark owner information; claimant representative information (for legal correspondence regarding claims); the exact mark you are making a claim for with the added dot-biz extension; description of the goods and/or services associated with the mark; first use in commerce date for the mark; registration status of mark and any associated dates and the country where the mark was first used.
All of the information must be submitted on a form supplied by the registrar, and then submitted with a fee of $90 for each IP claim.
Trademark owners and other applicants can pre-register for dot-biz domains through Sept. 17, 2001, and domains will be awarded in a randomized process.
Until dot-biz goes live, the registry will monitor all submissions and compare them to the IP claims. Exact matches will result in the domain applicant being notified that a trademark owner has made a claim to that name. The applicant will then have the option of withdrawing its application.
If the applicant chooses to proceed, and its domain is successfully registered, the domain will be put on hold for 30 days. During this “cooling-off period” the applicant’s WHOIS (WHOIS records contain identity and contact data) information will be transmitted to the trademark owner who registered the IP Claim.
– Dot-Biz STOP Procedure
During the cooling off period, trademark owners who filed an IP claim will have access to a start-up trademark opposition policy, or STOP.
The procedures are similar to the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm). According to NeuLevel, STOP makes it easier for trademark owners to demonstrate a “bad faith” domain name registration. ICANN’s Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy requires that trademark owners show that a domain was registered and used in bad faith. STOP only requires a showing that the domain name was registered or used in bad faith. Importantly, registering a domain name for the sole purpose of selling it to a third party constitutes a violation of STOP.
On Oct. 1, the dot-biz registry will go live and be on the familiar “first-come, first-served” basis like the dot-com, dot-net and dot-org top-level domains. Of course, dot-biz domains are subject to ICANN’s uniform dispute resolution policy procedures, just like all the other top-level domains.
If you either cannot afford to register an IP claim, or you do not choose to participate, you will still be able to use the dispute resolution policy, or the court system, to enforce your rights. At this time, cost for a dot-biz registration has not been set.
– Dot-Info Is For Everyone, Everywhere
According to Registry Operator Afilias, (www.afilias.com), “dot-info is the broadest, most comprehensive domain being brought to market. As a result, dot-info is available without restrictions for everyone, everywhere.”
The dot-info domain should begin registration under the “sunrise period” later this month, during which owners of trademarks, which have been registered on a national registry since at least Oct. 2, 2000, may pre-register their trademarks.
During the sunrise period, trademark own ers can register dot-info domains for their nationally registered trademarks. Only the exact text string can be registered, no variations. Stylized marks and design marks are included, but only the textual elements may be registered as a dot-info domain. Graphic marks are not eligible.
In addition to the usual application information, trademark owners must include the ASCII characters composing the trademark; the date the trademark was issued; the country where the trademark was registered and the trademark number.
There is no guarantee that applying during the sunrise period will result in registration, as there may be multiple applicants for certain domain names. When that happens, the registry will use a randomized, round-robin system, and successful applicants will be notified if they have received a registration.
Sunrise registrations will be for a minimum term of five years, and may not be transferred for at least six months following the sunrise period, unless challenged.
– Dot-Info Sunrise Challenge Process
Once the sunrise period ends, third-party challenges to a sunrise registration will be under the sunrise challenge process, administered exclusively by the World Intellectual Property Organization. This process will run for a period of 120 days following the end of the sunrise period.
A challenge may be based on the following: the registrant does not own a current intellectual property registration, the registration was not of national effect, the domain name is not identical to trademark, or trademark was not issued before Oct. 2, 2000.
The fee to initiate a challenge will be $250. After the 120-day window closes, all registrations will be subject to ICANN’s uniform dispute resolution policy.
The sunrise period is expected to last a minimum of 30 days, and is scheduled to open later this month. Following the sunrise period, the sunrise challenge process will last 120 days.
About 15 days after the close of the sunrise period, the start-up period will begin, and applications for registration will be accepted and processed using a randomized, round-robin system. That will last another 15 days, and after that all applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. At this time, cost for a dot-info registration has not been set.
Cybersquatters have been a thorn in the side of trademark owners, and although the procedures outlined above are untested, they appear to give some measure of control to trademark owners.
And remember, the sunrise provisions and IP claim service are limited-time offers, so get your new dot-biz and dot-info top-level domains while they are hot, and before you get left out in the cold.
