NEW gTLDs
Generic top level domains (gTLDs) are the domain suffixes with an extension of three or more characters. Tey are part of the structure that forms the Internet’s global addressing system, or domain-name system (DNS), and are used to route traffic through the Internet.
In total, there are now 21 gTLDs. Tese are made up of the original eight: .com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, .org and .arpa. Ten a further seven were approved in 2000: .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name and .pro. Finally, in 2004, there was an addition of six gTLDs: .asia, .cat, .jobs, .mobi, .tel and .travel.
.Brand—the basics
A ‘.brand’ relates to one part of the new gTLD programme; the introduction of brand owners or organisations being able to manage their own name as a top level domain (TLD) name. Tis essentially means creating a domain suffix so that the brand name appears aſter the dot, therefore being .brand, as opposed to a domain name registration where the brand name appears before the dot, e.g.
brand.com.
It is expected that there will also be opportunities for community or geographic TLDs such as .paris or .tennis to be created.
Tere are three options available:
1. .brand required for internal use only (internal departments, employees, etc.), therefore not a commercial registry
2. .brand used by third parties—community- based TLDs for industries, collective groups or organisations looking to use it for internal departments, affiliations, approved retailers, etc.
3. .community or .geography used by third parties—open TLDs, operated as full commercial registries.
To apply to register a .brand, the applicant must be an established corporation, organisation or institution in good standing.
It should be reiterated that an applicant for a .brand TLD is applying to create and operate a registry business and sign a contract with ICANN.
All applications will have to meet the objective criteria that will be set out in the applicant guidebook, which is still being finalised. For an application to be successful, it will be essential for the applicant to demonstrate that it has the strong technical and financial capability that is required to run a registry as well as making the commitment to comply with contractual requirements. It will be possible for a .brand
owner to partner with an established registrar and registry-backed operator to meet the technical capabilities required.
Should an applicant not apply in the first round for a .brand TLD, there will be further opportunities in the future. ICANN has indicated that it will announce the timings of future rounds at the same time as announcing the timescales for the first round of applications.
Branding costs
Te proposed evaluation fee is $185,000 and is required from all applicants.
Te evaluation fee will be payable in the form of a $5,000 deposit submitted at registration and a payment of the balance submitted with the application. ICANN will not begin its evaluation of an application unless it has received the full gTLD evaluation fee by the date and time set out in the final applicant guidebook.
Te evaluation fee is set so as to recover all costs associated with the new gTLD programme, and to ensure that the programme is fully funded and revenue-neutral, and is not subsidised by existing contributions from any of ICANN’s funding sources, including generic TLD registries and registrars, ccTLD contributions and RIR contributions.
It should also be noted that there are ongoing fees connected with running a registry for a
74 World Intellectual Property Review November/December 2010
.brand TLD. As part of the registry agreement with ICANN, there will be two fees. At this stage, ICANN anticipates these fees will be:
• A fixed fee of $6,250 per calendar quarter
• A transaction fee of $0.20 on all future domain registrations and renewals
• Technical fees for running the registry back end
• Additional fees dependent on the type of TLD applied for. Front-end services for open TLD, etc.
Following the application period, all applications will initially be verified by ICANN for completeness. Following this, a comprehensive list of proposed .brand TLDs together with the applicant’s name and all non-confidential portions of the application will be publicised on the ICANN website.
Te proposed steps for ensuring adequate trademark protection are as follows:
1. Rights protection mechanism
Applicants for new gTLDs will be required to describe in their applications the rights protection mechanism they propose for second- level registrations, which must be made public.
2. Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)
All new gTLDs must ensure that second-level registrations are subject to ICANN’s UDRP, a process that has worked well to protect rights for many years.
www.worldipreview.com
©
iStockphoto.com / VCTStyle
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108