ICANN's Trademark Clearinghouse Launching Today 49
itwbennett writes "If you want to protect your brand before ICANN rolls out the new gTLDs (generic top-level domains), here's your chance. The clearinghouse will allow trademark owners to register their marks for an annual fee of between $95 and $150. The clearinghouse 'doesn't necessarily prevent trademark infringement or cybersquatting, but it does help trademark owners and brand owners somewhat in mitigating the damage that might occur,' said Keith Kupferschmid, general counsel and vice president of IP policy and enforcement for the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA). 'We've been telling brand owners it's not that expensive to protect themselves and they ought to do it.'"
All of the new TLD registrars will be required to check the trademark clearinghouse before issuing domains, preemptively squashing trademark disputes.
A not-so-subtle scam, you say? WHY!? I NEVER! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: A not-so-subtle scam, you say? WHY!? I NEVER! (Score:4, Funny)
Actually, they have to say it three times (just like Beetlejuice).
I said "Microsoft" three times and was hit by a flying chair [businessinsider.com].
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Re:A not-so-subtle scam, you say? WHY!? I NEVER! (Score:4, Insightful)
To be fair, how could anything based on their own gTLD scam NOT be a scam?
Seriously; who really needs the new gTLD's? Was it supposed to expand the number of available domain names? If so, why would this clearinghouse exist at all?
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ICANN originated in the U.S. so they're following the basics of Trademark Law that requires you to protect your trademark or loose it and it's the reason we see trademark lawsuits to begin with.
You are correct that this is just another damn scam involving trademarks since to be protected by Trademark Law, they must be Registered and we already have a clearinghouse of those registered trademarks.
Money (Score:5, Insightful)
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"rolls out" or "doles out", but NOT "roles out" (Score:5, Informative)
.
You could say:
or, you could say:
but srsly, you cannot say:
"Rolls out" and "doles out" have different implications, but they would at least make some sense. Hello, /., we need an editor on aisle 5, please send an editor to aisle 5 now, we've got a grammar spill. Bring the sawdust... ;>)
That's a nice looking trademark you have there... (Score:2)
Who gets .apple? (Score:5, Interesting)
Who gets .mcdonalds? Who gets .burgerking ("The burgers are better at Hungry Jack's")
And I could repeat trademarks that apply in different geographical areas, and in different business areas. I sell computer services under the name Coca Cola, does that mean I can prevent a global beverage company from squatting on .cocacola?
In other words, as previously mentioned, this whole this is a scam.
Re: Who gets .apple? (Score:5, Insightful)
they'll notify you when someone is going to buy a domain that uses your trademark on one of these new vanity gTLDs and you'll have the chance to contest the purchase (ie, buy it yourself) or give up all future claims.
Yes, but you (owner of the trademark) still have to do the work. What they (ICANN) do is to watch if anyone else is going to buy similar domain to your trademark which is somewhat an extension to what they are doing. The trademark owner really has to do the work to stop/deter the purchase (owner of the intellectual property must enforce his/her own IP).
Also even though someone else has bought a domain name with your trademark and used it to make money, you could still sue for damages (if there is any) without needing to know it in advance. One problem I am seeing is that how would one determine whether the domain name bought by someone else is violating your trademark. From the USPTO ( http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp [uspto.gov] ), you may challenge those who use your trademark in the country where your trademark has been registered. If someone registered the domain name in a country where your trademark has not been registered but sells products (online) in the country your trade mark is registered, what can you do? I am not so sure you can really stop the domain name purchase this way...
In other words, they just want free money every year with their little afford to do the work for you. Is it really worth it?
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IANAL and all that, but I don't see how ICANN ca
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By making trademarks available as gTLDs, ICANN is directly infringing on the trademark owner's rights
No. That logic would mean that a signwriter, say, who was asked to make a sign that infringed a trademark would be liable. ICANN can't be responsible for checking that every domain that someone orders is under some trademark or another.
But ICANN are bloodsucking jerks who are fucking up the whole domain name system by thinking of more and more ways to make people think they need more and more domains, when any .com would do and free subdomains if you needed them. With random TLDs they're creating a system
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Trademarks have to be Registered to be a trademark, thus they're on a database that is searchable before you even apply for a trademark. Thus ICANN could be in a very shaky legal position in the United States for even offering this - Keep in mind that ICANN is based in the United States even though they're supposedly no longer under the control of the U.S. Government.
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Trademarks have to be Registered to be a trademark, thus they're on a database that is searchable before you even apply for a trademark. Thus ICANN could be in a very shaky legal position in the United States for even offering this
Are they supposed to investigate every entity that wants to create a domain name and see if there is an infringement? That could not be automated. If you make the registrar responsible for any infringements then they will have to charge thousands of dollars for each domain to pay for the due diligence, or get sued bankrupt.
Its the entity that orders and uses the domain that is responsible. Anyway, trademarks are not locks on words under all circumstances. Google any fairly common surname, You'll find doze
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scam (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously? This is so close to various scams that you need a microscope to spot the difference.
Not to mention that it borders on a protection racket. "Nice trademark you have there. Would be a shame if anything happened to it..."
ICANN needs to be replaced.
Send your money to ICANN, get nothing in return (Score:2)
Extortion (Score:2)
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I think I would rather my lawyers tell ICANN to not let someone buy a gTLD with my trademark in it.
Particularly because this system seems to be that you have a right of first refusal to buy a gTLD with your mark when someone else tries to buy one... and if you refuse to pay whatever ICANN asks, not only does the other guy get the gTLD, you waive all rights against them. In other words, this seems to waive your rights to a UDRP dispute and seizure of the domain.
What's it for? (Score:3)
The only use I can see for new TLD is to distinguish between different possible uses of the same name. e.g. consider how many web sites now have $(thing)-movie.com or $(thing)-band.com : if .movie and .band were TLDs, that's actually providing some benefit. But these are generic words, not trademarks. They're only useful if a registrar sells subdomains at a reasonable price, and the TLD will live or die depending on whether it can get a foothold in the market. This is a good thing.
I just don't see a case for corporations buying their own TLD. Is there a substantial usability or branding difference between www.disney and disney.com? Everybody will just type "disney" into the address bar anyway, it will find the right site even if it has to go via google...
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I just don't see a case for corporations buying their own TLD. Is there a substantial usability or branding difference between www.disney and disney.com? Everybody will just type "disney" into the address bar anyway, it will find the right site even if it has to go via google...
Sure it will, after multiple DNS queries, then a query to Google, then a user click. If the TLD resolves directly to the company's web site, users will get there faster. Sites that load pretty slowly anyway won't benefit much, but those that care about page load times can see significant benefits.
There are other reasons, I'm sure, but there's one, anyway. I'm guessing Google's registration of the "google" TLD is to accomplish exactly that (note: I work for Google but don't know anything about why Google h
Double the registry, double the fun (Score:2)
So owners or registered trademarks have to register them again? To a company that says "It won't protect the marks from being used, just help when you sue". Isn't that why you registered the trademark with the government to begin with?
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"Owners of registered" I mean.
Cheap (Score:3)
ICANN needs to die. (Score:2)
In other words ICANN is creating a whole host of phishing/identity problems with a money making TLD scheme which help nobody except phishers and their bottom line...
(...drumroll...)
Now they seriously have the nerve to seek mitigation against blatently predictable abuse of TLD insanity of their own making by soliciting even more money in extortion payments to safeguard their trademarks. WTF
I wish operators in the root zone list would grow a fucking spine and revolt against these loosers. ICANN needs to be