.VIN new gTLD: reply to the Government of France

Holly Shadow, LLC (Donuts Inc.) just published its answer to the French GAC Early Warning.

The answer is interesting and explains .VIN is not only used to qualify wine:

"This so noted, we respectfully further submit that the .VIN string may be legitimately applied to terms and uses unrelated to wine. As but one example, VIN is a commonly used acronym for Vehicle Identification Number in the U.S. This is a unique serial number used to identify vehicles. There are other potential uses for the three letters V, I and N—for example, the website www.vin.com is run by the Veterinarian Information Network as a web information resource for veterinary doctors."

...but Registrants (people who buy domain names) with the intention to use these domains to sell wine illegally could have them terminated:

"Donuts will monitor name usage to prevent certain types of abusive activity and may terminate registrations if registrants do not follow all applicable laws. For example, it would be grounds for termination if a .VIN registrant used the gTLD to illegally produce or sell wine."

Regarding French Geographical Indications ("Indicators" in the answer), Donuts (Holly Shadow, LLC) says it has been consulting with wine industry experts and would welcome any constructive advice the Government of France may have. This is being discussed at the moment according to my sources but the text also says: "Donuts does not intend to block second level names beyond those detailed in Specification 5."

Specification 5 can be read on page 285 of the Applicant Guidebook.

If I already have an idea of how all this is going to end, I understand the position of the applicant who has been following the methodology provided by ICANN with its Applicant Guidebook. 

The official document is available online (.VIN answer is available down the page).

Update: the Letter Of Credit

This recent info was published by ICANN regarding the LOC (Letter Of Credit):

1. Requests for ICANN's Signature on Amendments to Letter of Credit:
   http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/customer-service/loc-signature-requests
2. Beneficiary Requirement on Letters of Credit (5 February 2013):
   http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/advisories/loc-beneficiary-requirement-05feb13-en

For more, check the Applicants Corner: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/corner

New gTLDs: No Time to Relax

.VIN and .WINE are in "Réussir Vigne" (French Press)

I strongly suggest to buy "Réussir Vigne: la passion de la vigne et du vin" n°193 (February 2013) - where .VIN and .WINE have their press article.

For those who do not read French, I am afraid you will have to learn ;-)

New gTLD Objection & Dispute Resolution presentation

The New gTLD Objection and Dispute Resolution window will be open until 13 March 2013.

Today's webinar gave an overview of the new gTLD objection process and let interested parties ask questions to the Dispute Resolution Service Providers.

The related presentation can be downloaded here: Objection & Dispute Resolution Presentation.

Trademark Clearinghouse: examples please?

It is yet unclear what the Trademark Clearinghouse does and what it does not.

I recently launched a small poll on LinkedIn with a very basic question which should normally be answered by a "yes" or a "no". Services provides and law firms are welcome to vote and participate to provide more information. They can even promote themselves if they explain their answers.

I strongly believe examples and case figures should be provided on the official Trademark Clearinghouse web site so brands and interested parties can have serious answers. I was recently reported that a major service provider offering a Trademark Clearinghouse Webinar was not able to answer the most simple questions. I myself listened to the one from Markmonitor and was satisfied by the level of knowledge.

Here are listed the most common questions I receive/ I will probably launch new "yes/no" polls on the "new generic Top-Level Domains" group on LinkedIn.

Questions I received:

• If I register my brand "melba" in the Trademark Clearinghouse, will it be blocked from being registered by a third party?
• If I register my brand "melba" in the Trademark Clearinghouse, will I be the only person to be allowed to register the same domain name during the Sunrise Period of:
• One specific extension?
• All of them?
• Is it possible to register an applied for string in the TMCH?
• If I register my brand "melba" in the Trademark Clearinghouse, will I be the only person to be allowed to register pechemelba.food?
• If a Geographical Indication is registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse, what incidence will it have on other strings than .WINE and .VIN?
• If a Registrant applies to register a domain name matching a mark registered with the TMCH (assuming both parties receive notice from the TMCH), will the trademark owner have any recourse to prevent the registration of the domain name, besides recourse of the URS and UDRP?

And questions I received not necessarily related to the TMCH:

• If an new gTLD applicant succeeds in registering the .RUGBY domain name extension, will it still be possible for someone to register the domain name rugby.sport? (There are applicants for the .rugby Top-Level Domain);
• As a brand applicant, will it be possible to register a country name as a domain name (ex: france.brand) and if "yes", what will the procedure be since country names are protected in the Applicant Guidebook?

Answers to these questions were given here.