As you may be aware, a thousand or more new generic top-level
domains (gTLDs) may become open for registration on the Internet
beginning as early as mid-2013. With the availability of new
gTLDs now an impending reality, all organizations should be giving
careful consideration to how they will adapt their online
enforcement strategies and otherwise prepare for the new
landscape.
Overview
At this juncture, organizations may still have some opportunities
to influence which new gTLDs are delegated (top-level enforcement),
although the windows for these opportunities are rapidly
closing. In addition, as the number of spaces in which to
register second-level domains will likely increase exponentially
over the next few years, all organizations, whether or not they are
otherwise participating in the new gTLD program, will need to
determine how to expand their domain name portfolios with defensive
registrations and how they will utilize other rights protection
mechanisms (RPMs) to protect their brands.
Several relevant deadlines are rapidly approaching. For
example:
- The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has set an internal deadline of February 8, 2013 for its members to identify new gTLD applications meriting GAC Advice (top-level enforcement opportunity to advocate for national governments to express concerns regarding problematic new gTLDs).
- The Trademark Clearinghouse is estimated to begin validating trademarks in February 2013 (second-level enforcement opportunity to provide some protection for brands within domain names registered in new gTLDs).
- The New gTLD Objection Filing Period deadline is March 13, 2013(top-level enforcement opportunity to initiate a proceeding to block problematic new gTLDs, with appropriate standing required).
- The first new gTLDs could go live as early as June 2013, thus requiring planning in the very near future for participation in sunrise periods and other second-level enforcement efforts.
Preparing to take action before any one of these deadlines will
take a significant amount of time and planning, and thus,
organizations will need to make decisions quickly if they are to
take advantage of the corresponding opportunities to protect their
brands.
Please
click here for a brief explanation of each of these
opportunities
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.