.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.

Trademark Clearinghouse

Brand & domain name Monitoring with the Trademark Clearinghouse

The Trademark Clearinghouse "plug-in"

Most brand/domain name monitoring tools are more or less the same: some are efficient but expensive, some are cheap but do not provide enough information, some provide an info you don't need, some require 37 clicks to find what you look for, some just send a report in your email and that is fine, some offer support while some don't, some provide an extremely detailed information about a Registrant which is what you need and some just provide the print of a Whois. Of course, most of them send an alert in your email according to your needs.

With new gTLDs coming and the need for monitoring service providers to offer "something more" to their clients, the Trademark Clearinghouse plug-in is the option that could make a strong difference on this market.

As a client, it is clear the monitoring service I subscribe to will have to offer this new "add-on" which alerts me when a domain is submitted for registration in any new gTLD, and is a close or an identical match to my brand in the Trademark Clearinghouse.

I will be promoting these tools in a close future, I you are interested in sponsoring me to acquire visibility for your tool (or service), please contact me.

Trademark Clearinghouse fees preview

According to a discussion found on LinkedIn about he Trademark ClearingHouse, The Clearinghouse will launch in Quarter 1 of this year. More details on the exact date, registration and fees will be published soon, but here the moderator of the group announced it will be possible to register for 1 r or multiple years.

Trademark registrations can be designated for one (1), three (3) or five (5) years and are (re)validated once per year. The services after will be included:

• Registration of the trademark record ;
• Verification of the trademark record ;
• Sunrise services ;
• Trademark claims services ;
• Linking 10 domain names to the registration ;

There won't be extra fees for opting in or out of Sunrise services or Trademark Claims notifications. It will be possible to pay by Credit card or prepay.

Trademark Holders will be able to pay by Credit card or prepay. Trademark agents will use a prepayment account that will entitles them to discounts.

The official website.

ICANN new gTLDs: lost in the crowd?

Name.com, recenlty acquired by Demand Media, just published a fresh and actual agenda of the new gTLD program. As I often talk to applicants and other interested parties in the ICANN new gTLD program, I know how complex it is, not only to understand it, but more than everything, to know when things are happening.

The article is entitled "ICANN’s Priority Release Draw, and What’s Next For nTLDs in 2013":

• Early January, 2013 – Releasing clarifying questions for applications, based on priority numbers;
• January, 2013 – Publishing contention sets, based on priority number;
• March 13, 2013 – The last day to file an objection;
• March 23, 2013 – Publication of initial evaluation results for the first several applications.

Read the complete article here.

More GAC Early Warnings (updated)

Iran submitted Early Warnings from its GAC Member(s) after the deadline announced by ICANN:

A few things I noticed:

• Back-end registry "Afilias Limited" and "dot Wine Limited" (Famous Four Media) are 2 of the 3 applicants who received an Early Warning for their .WINE application;
• Alcohol was targeted in Iran's Early Warnings but...my bar seems to be larger than any bar you can find in Iran;
• Regarding wine applications...well...no one speaks French in Iran and I am happy about that because the Reasons/Rationales for the warning do not concern any form of protection of our fantastic industry but a conflict with "ethical standards":
  
  "According to believes and values of Islamic Republic of Iran the applied for new gTLD is in conflict with ethical standards. From rational view point any action that lead to agitation and irritation of the humanity and faith; and have deleterious behavioral impacts which are not permitted.
  The applied for new gTLD can encourage people on doing non-religious, unethical and non rational actions.
  The applicant has not worked on any legislation or roles to prevent the registration of domain names under applied for TLD in Islamic and other sensitive countries, which is an aggression to the sensitive communities’ beliefs and regulations, causing many Unpredictable results."

Note that the Early Warnings that were submitted were posted as a courtesy to inform applicants, and for transparency into the process. If applicants would like to discuss the concerns with applicants who have filed late that is certainly encouraged. However, there is no "consideration" or "rejection" by the GAC of Early Warnings if they come late, as Early Warnings serve as a mechanism for individual GAC members/Governments to voice their concerns on certain applications.

The GAC support informs that Early Warnings are not consensus based within the GAC.

The list of late Early Warnings is published here.