New Era for Domain Names

2011-01-01

NEWERAFORDOMAINNAMES

JEAN-FRANÇOISJOURNAULT*
ROBIC,
LLP
L
AWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKAGENTS

ArecentICANN(InternetCorporationforAssignedNamesandNumbers)decision
couldhaveamajorimpactonthewaydomainnamesareusedandincidentally
causeheadachesfortrademarkowners.
Indeed,onJune20,2011,ICANN’sBoardofDirectorsadoptedaresolutionallowing
thecreationofnewgenerictopleveldomains(gTLDs)inadditiontothe22actual
domains,whichinclude”.com”,”.net”,”.org”,andthelatestaddition”.xxx”whichis
plannedtogolivelaterthisyear.Asanaside,trademarkholderswhowishtoprevent
theuseofatrademarkinassociationwiththeadultorienteddomain,mayexclude
andblocktheirtrademarkinthe”.xxx”domainduringtheSunrisePeriod,whichwill
takeplacefromSeptember7toOctober28,2011.
ThenewgTLDsmayresultintheemergenceofnewdomainsforgenerictermssuch
as”.sport”or”.film”,forcitiessuchas”.newyork”or”.nyc”,forinterestgroupslike
“.climate”andfortrademarkslike”.canon”or”.deloitte”,thelatterbeingamongthe
fewcompanieswhohavealreadypubliclystatedtheirintentiontoapplyforagTLD.

EventhoughtheprospectofmanaginganewgTLDmaybeappealing,particularly
fromamarketingperspective,potentialapplicantsshouldconsiderseveralfactors
beforesubmittinganapplication.InadditiontoincurringapplicationfeesofU.S.
$185,000,candidatesmustensurethattheypossessthetechnicalcapabilitiesand
financialresourcesnecessaryto,amongotherthings,operateagTLDinasecure
andstablemanner,offer“Whois”servicesconcerningsecondleveldomainnamesin
thegTLD,implementmeasuresforprotectionofcountryandterritorynamesinthe
gTLD,maintainanabusepointofcontactanddelivermonthlyreportstoICANN.

Fortrademarkholders,ICANN’sdecisionimpliesincreasedprobabilitiesofseeing
oneoftheirtrademarksusedwithinadomainname.Thereare,however,
mechanismsinplacetohelptrademarkholdersprotectandpromotetheirbrand.
Accordingly,aSunriseperiodwillbeavailabletoprovideanearlyopportunityfor
registeredtrademarkholderstoregisternamesinthegTLD.Moreover,duringthe

©CIPS,2011.
*FromROBIC,LLP,multidisciplinaryfirmofLawyers,andPatentandTrade-markAgents.Published
intheSpring2011(Vol.15,no.2)Newsletterofthefirm.Publication068.139E.

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Sunriseperiod,ifatrademarkisrecordedintheTrademarkClearinghouse,
TrademarkClaimserviceswillprovidenotificationtopotentialregistrantsofexisting
trademarkrightsandtherightsholderonthetrademarkwillbenotifiedthatathird
partyisattemptingtoregisterthetrademark.Inaddition,intheeventofadispute
concerningadomainname,aplaintiffwillhavethechoicebetweenthecurrentUDRP
procedure(UniformDomainNameDisputeResolutionPolicy)andthenewURS
procedure(UniformRapidSuspensionSystem).Themajordifferencesbetweenthe
newURSprocedureandtheUDRPprocedureisthattheURSissupposedlycheaper,
fasterandcanresultinthesuspensionofthedomainnameforthedurationofthe
registrationperiod,insteadofthetransferorcancellationofthedomainname
providedundertheUDRP.
OnlytimewilltelltheextentofthetransformationbroughtonbyICANN’snewpolicy,
asthemagnitudeofthisdecisionwilldependonhowmanynewgTLDsarecreated
andtheamountofnewsecondleveldomainsforeachofthesegTLDs.Astrong
responsecouldconsiderablymodifythedomainnamelandscape,andresulting
marketingstrategies.However,iftheratherlimiteduseofcertainexistingdomains
(suchas“.pro”and“.names”)isanindicatorofthepublicenthusiasmfornewdomain
names,theoverallimpactondomainnamescouldbemuchlowerthanexpected.
Whateverthecasemaybe,theanswertothisquestionwillnotbeknownforsome
time,asthearrivalofthenewgTLDsisnotexpecteduntiltheendof2012.

ROBIC,ungrouped’avocatsetd’agentsdebrevetsetdemarquesdecommercevouédepuis1892à
laprotectionetàlavalorisationdelapropriétéintellectuelledanstouslesdomaines:brevets,dessins
industrielsetmodèlesutilitaires;marquesdecommerce,marquesdecertificationetappellations
d’origine;droitsd’auteur,propriétélittéraireetartistique,droitsvoisinsetdel’artisteinterprète;
informatique,logicielsetcircuitsintégrés;biotechnologies,pharmaceutiquesetobtentionsvégétales;
secretsdecommerce,know-howetconcurrence;licences,franchisesettransfertsdetechnologies;
commerceélectronique,distributionetdroitdesaffaires;marquage,publicitéetétiquetage;poursuite,
litigeetarbitrage;vérificationdiligenteetaudit.ROBIC,agroupoflawyersandofpatentand
trademarkagentsdedicatedsince1892totheprotectionandthevalorizationofallfieldsofintellectual
property:patents,industrialdesignsandutilitypatents;trademarks,certificationmarksandindications
oforigin;copyrightandentertainmentlaw,artistsandperformers,neighbouringrights;computer,
softwareandintegratedcircuits;biotechnologies,pharmaceuticalsandplantbreeders;tradesecrets,
know-how,competitionandanti-trust;licensing,franchisingandtechnologytransfers;e-commerce,
distributionandbusinesslaw;marketing,publicityandlabelling;prosecutionlitigationandarbitration;
duediligence.
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