Clearing the way: trademark protection and new gTLDs

As part of its new gTLD programme, ICANN has committed to establishing a Trademark Clearinghouse for protecting intellectual property rights. TB&I talks to Jan Corstens and Vicky Folens of Deloitte about the details.

As part of its new gTLD programme, ICANN has committed to establishing a Trademark Clearinghouse for protecting intellectual property rights. TB&I talks to Jan Corstens and Vicky Folens of Deloitte about the details.

One of the key sticking points over the launch of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) has been intellectual property rights. Brand owners worry that potentially unlimited numbers of new domains will mean potentially unlimited opportunities for infringement, while the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which administers the programme, has to balance those concerns with a more general desire to open up the Internet and increase the usable space on it.

While no system can possibly head off every conceivable threat to IP, ICANN does have a range of tools in its armoury to assist brand owners in their fight against infringers. One of the most significant of these tools is the Trademark Clearinghouse, which is provided for as one of the conditions in the gTLD Applicant Guidebook.