INTA Bulletin Articles
Latest on New gTLDs: Comments Needed on GAC Advice, Registrar Accreditation Agreement (Vol. 68 No. 10 - June 1, 2013)
Association Helps to Secure Trademark Clearinghouse Enhancements (Vol. 68 No. 10 - June 1, 2013)
New gTLDs: Launch of Trademark Clearinghouse and Other Milestones (Vol. 68 No. 6 - March 15, 2013)
Brand Owners Prepare for Launch of New gTLDs (Vol. 66 No. 14 - August 1, 2011)
“To TLD or Not to TLD, That Is the Question” (Vol. 65 No. 19 - November 1, 2010)
Trademark Clearinghouse
The
Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) is a database repository for verified trademark rights information, integrated into ICANN’s new gTLD program. The TMCH will serve as platform to support the Sunrise and Trademark Claims rights protection mechanisms applicable in all new gTLDs.
ICANN Resources
New gTLD Portal
New gTLD Timeline
Updated gTLD Applicant Guidebook and
Applicant Guidebook Supplemental Notes
New gTLD Fact Sheets
New gTLD FAQs
Reference Materials for Applicants
New gTLD Applicant Support Program
WIPO Resources
WIPO New gTLD Website
FAQ on “Legal Rights Objections under ICANN's New gTLD Program -- Filing a Legal Rights Objection at WIPO: What You Need To Know”
WIPO Information Concerning Objections
WIPO Center-produced summary of “Trademark Rights Protection Mechanisms for New gTLDs”
“WIPO Observations on New gTLD Dispute Resolution Mechanisms”
Background
The Internet domain name system is constructed as a hierarchy. The domain space is divided into top-level domains (TLDs), with each TLD subdivided into second-level domains, and so on. Most TLDs with three or more characters, such as .com, .net, and .org, are referred to as generic TLDs, or gTLDs. There are currently 22 gTLDs.
Public policy deliberations over how to structure the top-level space of the Internet’s addressing system have been ongoing since the Internet became open for commercial use in the mid-1990s. In February 1998, the U.S. Government issued a
Green Paper concerning proposed ways to improve technical management of the Internet Domain Name System.
The Green Paper proposed certain actions designed to privatize the management of Internet names and addresses, and proposed the addition of 5 new gTLDs to the domain name system.
INTA's Response to the Green Paper
After receiving comments from INTA, among more than 650 other submissions on the Green Paper, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a general statement of policy on the Management of Internet Names and Addresses later that year, known as the White Paper.
The White Paper called for the creation of a new, private, not-for-profit corporation responsible for coordinating specific DNS functions for the benefit of the Internet as a whole, and stated that the new corporation would be the most appropriate body to make decisions related to the introduction of new gTLDs, based on global input. This process led to the formation of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which subsequently introduced a limited number of new gTLDs shortly following its formation, and again in 2004.
In June 2008, ICANN, the organization that manages the Internet's domain name system, began considering a plan to expand the number of new gTLDs in the domain name system. INTA and other stakeholders worked throughout the gTLD policy development process to ensure that the new system would provide adequate protection to trademarks.