NewgTLDs – Application Round Starts Today
12.1.12, A unique combination of day and year and start of new word of .Anything.
With the launch of first application round starting today, NewgTLDs is certainly going to the next new .Thing in the coming time.
There are, however, number of concerns from various stakeholders with regard to the launch of NewgTLDs. Besides trademark issues which is one of the most contentions issue involving NewgTLDs, various other issues like Root Zone Scaling and Operation of Registries are most debatable issues involving NewgTLDs.
Once the Application period starts for the NewgTLDs, there shall be evaluation process for the grant of NewgTLDs, and Applicant is to respond to set of 50 questions covering the issues like Applying entity, its background, the mission and purpose of the proposed NewgTLDs applied, Registry Technical and Operational set up and The Financial Capabilities of an Applicant to run the Registry amongst others. ICANN shall ask the Applicant to demonstrate actual operation technical compliance prior to delegation of a NewgTLDs.
As far as rights of trademark owners are concerned, NewgTLDs implementation model introduces “Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPM)” which are not available in the current scenario. The said RPM shall include the following.
1. Trademark Clearing House (TCH)
It is proposed to have a single Database of Authenticated Registered Trademarks from around the Globe. This will provide data to support Trademark Claims and Sunrise Services. TCH shall be operated by third party or a service provider under license or agreement with ICANN. It further replaces the need for trademark holders to register their marks in different databases as NewgTLDs are launched.
It is proposed that ICANN shall require that every NewgTLDs operator utilize TCH service to conduct both a Trademark Claim and a Sunrise Process.
2. Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS)
In a clear cut case of infringement of a Trademark, URS shall provide rapid relief to the Trademark owners and shall offer cheaper, faster responses than Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).
The fee for URS expected to be in the range of USD 300-500 and shall be set by the URS services provider. However, if the Complainant is successful in proving his claims under URS complaint, it would result in suspension of domain rather than transfer of the name as available under UDRP.
This would be very beneficial for the Trademark owners to get the instant relief by suspension of domain and a website which normally takes 60 to 70 days for an effective transfer under UDRP regime.
3. Post–Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure(PDDRP)
Under PDDRP, claims for registry operator’s bad faith intent to profit from systemic registration of infringing domain name could be filed. An infringement claim against registry could be filed with the dispute resolution service provider under PDDRP, the remedy shall vary and might result in termination of registry in most egregious cases.
Besides the above, the process also proposes to publish the successful NewgTLDs before it’s granted to the Applicants and it is also proposed that an opposition/objections process could be filed against the Applications so published prior to their delegation of NewgTLDs upon the successful Applicant.
It would be interesting to see the changes in the World Wide Web Space starting 12.1.12.
If you have any query relating to Domain Names and/or NewgTLDs, please visit us at www.iprfirm.tel or contact at gurpreet@amarjitassociates.com