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HOLDERSOFTRADE-MARKRIGHTSSHOULDPAYATTENTIONTOTHENEW.BIZ
TOP-LEVELDOMAIN
MarcelNaud*
LEGERROBICRICHARD,L.L.P.
Lawyers,PatentandTrademarkAgents
CentreCDPCapital
1001Square-Victoria–BlocE–8thFloor
Montreal,Quebec,CanadaH2Z2B7
Tel.(514)9876242–Fax(514)8457874
www.robic.ca–info@robic.com
Asyoumayalreadybeaware,theInternetCorporationforAssignedNames
andNumbers(ICANN)isintheprocessofincreasingthenumberoftoplevel
domains(suchas.com,.netand.org).AmongthesenewTLD’s,”.biz”was
adoptedtohelpcompaniesregisternewdomainnamesthatare
representativeoftheirnames,productsandservices.Toensurethatthe
introductionofthisnewTLDtakesplaceinafairandorderlyfashion,the
selectedregistryfor.biz,NeuLevel,hasdevelopedathree-phaseprocessto
occurpriortothelaunch.Whatfollowsisashortdescriptionofeachphase:
Phase1:IPClaimService(May21,2001toJuly9,2001)
Beforeallowinganydomainnameapplications,NeuLevelwillofferan
IntellectualProperty(IP)ClaimServicetoexistingholdersoftrade-markrights.
NeuLevelwillassemblealltrade-markclaimsintoanIPClaimDatabase,
withoutverifyingwhetheranIPClaimcorrespondswithactualtrade-marks.
Therewillbeafeethatshouldnotexceed$90USDforsubmittinganIPClaim
form.SubmissionofanIPClaimFormdoesnotcreateanyspecialrightswith
respecttoregisteringaparticulardomainname.Inotherwords,anyclaimant
wishingtoregistera.bizdomainnamemustalsosubmitaseparatedomain
nameapplication.Thisservicewillwarnholdersoftrade-markrightsand
correspondingdomainnameapplicantsoftheexistenceofpotential
conflicts.
Phase2:DomainNameApplication(ThroughSeptember25,2001)
Thisphaseprovidescompanieswiththeopportunitytosubmitdomainname
applicationstoregistrarspriortotheactuallaunchoftheRegistry.Therewill