At this moment the ICANN (American non-profit organization responsible for the global coordination of the Internet) within its project called New Generic Top Level Domains is evaluating the approval of nearly two thousand new generic domains that have been requested, which will be coming into operation gradually.
The entry into operation of the new generic domains could conflict with trademarks. To protect such trademarks, TRADEMARK CLEARINGHOUSE (TMCH) is particularly interesting.
WHAT IS TMCH?
It is a worldwide, unique and centralized database of trademarks.
WHAT IS TMCH FOR?
The registration of trademarks in the TMCH will allow obtaining priority rights for the registration of new domains and access to a notification service for new domains (Trademark Claim Service) requested by third parties.
PERIODS FOR THE REGISTRATION OF NEW DOMAINS
1.- Sunrise. During this preliminary registration period, the owners of validly registered trademarks will be able to register the new domains corresponding to said trademarks, on a priority basis.
2.- Landrush. In this period, also preliminary, it will be offered the possibility of reserving and registering domains in a priority way, without being necessary to be a trademark owner, through the payment of a Premium fee.
3.- Definitive opening of the registry to any user who, unless the corresponding registration rules establish otherwise, will be able to register the corresponding domain based on the principle of temporary priority (first come, first served)
WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF TMCH?
The registration of trademarks in the TMCH essentially has two functions:
- To receive notification of the start dates of each of the Sunrise phases for new domains. In addition, the owners of the trademarks registered in the TMCH may request their names in the Sunrise phase of any of the new domains.
- The owners of the registered trademarks will have the notification service of the Trademark Claim Service. By means of this service, in the event that a domain is requested that corresponds to the name of a trademark registered in the TMCH, both the applicant for the domain and the holder of the trademark will be informed that there are rights over this name. This notification allows the domain owner to cancel the new domain application, or the trademark owner to initiate arbitration or litigation to cancel the new domain.
WHO CAN REGISTER THE TRADEMARK WITH TMCH?
The owner or the licensee of a registered trademark can request its registration in the TMCH.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF REGISTERING TRADEMARKS IN TMCH?
1.- Security. TMCH notifies the owners of the trademarks registered in the database every time the Sunrise of a new domain is planned. Only trademarks registered in TMCH will be eligible for the Sunrise phases of new domains.
In case of not registering this new domain in the Sunrise phase, the trademark holder will be able to benefit from the Trademark Claim Service system that alerts trademark holders if someone has applied for a domain name corresponding to their trademark.
2.- Monitoring of the new domains that will be gradually activated
3.- Save costs. With a low cost, the TMCH service allows us to present our brand as a new domain in the Sunrise phase and, if necessary, to know the domains that have been granted with our brand.
AGUILAR & REVENGA Patents & Trademarks
JOSÉ MARÍA IGLESIAS
GENERAL MANAGER
