protecting your trademarks in the domain name big bang

Jamie NafzigerMark Wagner

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Protecting Your TrademarksIn The Domain Name Big Bang Protecting Your TrademarksIn The Domain Name Big Bang

1

HighlightsHighlights

• Quick Overview of Domain Names

• Recent Round of Expansion

• Application Process

• Applications Filed

• Disputes

• Political Wranglings

• Strategic Considerations

• Trademark Clearinghouse

• Timeline

2

What is a Domain Name?What is a Domain Name?

• Unique memorable, address for an electronic resource on the Internet

• Stands in for an IP Address

170.149.168.130

3

NYTimes.com

What is a TLD?What is a TLD?

• NYTimes.com

• NPR.org

• UMN.edu

• SourceFourge.net

• CBC.ca

• Wedge.coop

4

Current TLDsCurrent TLDs

• .com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, .org– originals, created in 1980s

• .uk, .ca, .il, .de, .au, .it, etc.– ccTLDs; first ones created in 1985, now over 250

• .biz, .info, .name, .pro, .aero, .coop, .museum – 2000-2001

• .asia, .cat, .jobs, .mobi, .tel and .travel– 2003

• .xxx– 2011

5

Current TLDs – By TypeCurrent TLDs – By Type

• Open Generic TLDs– .com, .net, .org, .info, .name, .mobi, .tel – open to

anyone

• Restricted gTLDs– .aero, .coop, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .biz, .asia, .cat, .jo

bs, .museum, .pro, .travel, .xxx – restricted

• Country Code TLDs

6

Cast of CharactersCast of Characters

• Registry– DB of DNs registered

in a TLD

– Operated by separate entities

• Verisign = .com, .net

• Registrar– Retail sales of DNs in

registry

– E.g., GoDaddy, Network Solutions, TuCows

7

Cast of Characters cont’dCast of Characters cont’d

• ICANN– Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers

– Responsible for all of the Internet's unique identifiers – I.P. addresses and domain names

8

To Expand or Not To Expand?2000 - 2011To Expand or Not To Expand?2000 - 2011

• Expansion round in 2000 (7 gTLDs added)

• Mid-decade (7 more gTLDs added)

• Several years of debate – Objections from brand owners

– Economic studies

• June 20, 2011 ICANN approved current expansion– Accept unlimited number of applications

– Add no more than 1,000 new gTLDs to root zone in given year

9

Expand!Expand!

• Application period began January 12, 2012• No requirement to disclose intention to apply• Hundreds of pages of application materials (business plan,

financial, technical)• Multiple vendor agreements• $185,000 filing fee per application• Multiple issues and delays

– Security breaches – file names, user names– Reveal day – June 13, 2012– Disclosure of contacts’ personal information– Digital archery– Customer service portal security bugs– Head of gTLD program resigned

10

1,930 Applications!1,930 Applications!

• 1846 “standard”

• 84 community-based

• 66 geographic names

• 116 internationalized domain names (IDNs) in non-Latin scripts

• 60 countries represented

• 751 applications in competition with other apps for identical or similar gTLDs

• 911 North America; 675 Europe; 303 Asia Pacific; 24 Latin America; and 17 Africa

• 6 have been withdrawn

• Link to view list: tinyurl.com/7ddhekq

11

1,930 Applications!1,930 Applications!

1409 Unique TLDs

696 .brand applications

• E.g., .Visa, .Fujitsu, .TJMaxx, .XBox, .Mattel, .HBO, .Fox, .Cialis, .McDonalds, .Datsun

• Surprising absences: Apple (beyond .apple) and Facebook

• 693 are “single user”

• Some competition:

– Different brand owners applied for .guardian, .monster, .goo and .now

– Competition from generic apps, e.g., .coach, .live and .spot

12

1,930 Applications!1,930 Applications!

Some Big Players

• Donuts.co = 307 applications, all generic. Claims to have raised US$ 100 million for its gTLD applications

• Google = 101 applications, some for brands, mostly generic

• Amazon = 57 generic, 19 brand

• Uniregistry = 54

• Demand Media = 26

13

1,930 Applications!1,930 Applications!

Not All Generics To Be “Open”--No third parties will be able to register at second-level

• Amazon: 57 closed generics, e.g., .app, .book, .movie, .music, .game, .free

• Google: 14, e.g., .app, .site, .talk and .page

• Dish: 10, e.g., .direct and .dtv, (seem similar to brands of DirectTV)

• Dominion Enterprises: 9, e.g. apartments, .autos, .cars and .boats

• IG Group Holdings: 6, all in financial category

• Other companies: Allstate, Symantec, Progressive, Fidelity, Bridgestone, Richemont, Goodyear and Scripps Networks

14

New gTLD Examples: Consumer BrandsNew gTLD Examples: Consumer Brands

.alfaromeo

.amazon

.american express

.amex

.android

.apple

.avery

.bentley

.bridgestone

.buick

.cadillac

.calvinklein

.canon

.cartier

.chanel

.chevrolet

.chevy

.chrysler

.cisco

.clinique

.coach

.dell

.datsun

.delta

.dodge

.dupont

.epson

.ericsson

.fedex

.ferrari

.firestone

.ford

.fujitsu

.goodyear

.google

.gucci

.heinz

.hilton

.hitachi

.holiday

.honeywell

.hyatt

.hyundai

.ibm

.intel

.jaguar

.lamborghini

.lancome

.lego

.lexus

.loreal

.macys

.marriott

.marshalls

.mattel

.maybelline

.mcdonalds

.microsoft

.mitsubishi

.montblanc

.netflix

.nike

.nikon

.nissan

.nokia

.olympus

.omega

.oracle

.panasonic

.patagonia

.philips

.sony

.staples

.suzuki

.swatch

.swiss

.target

.tiffany

.toshiba

.toyota

.travelers

.visa

.volkswagen

.volvo

.xerox

.yahoo

.youtube15

New gTLD Examples: Technology/InternetNew gTLD Examples: Technology/Internet

[.mobile] Chinese

[.network] Chinese

[.online] Chinese

[.online] Cyrillic

[.site] Arabic

[.site] Cyrillic

[.web/network] Arabic

[.website] Chinese

[.webstore] Chinese

.antivirus

.app

.blog

.camera

.cloud

16

.computer

.data

.digital

.email

.engineer

.engineering

.equipment

.host

.hosting

.ieee

.mobile

.network

.online

.search

.secure

.security

.site

.tech

.technology

.web

.website

New gTLD Examples: FinancialNew gTLD Examples: Financial

.accountant

.accountants

.bank

.banque

.consulting

.cpa

.credit

.creditcard

.creditunion

.estate

.exchange

.finance

.financial

.financialaid

.fund

.insurance

.investments

.loan

.loans

.mba

.money

.mortgage

.mutual funds

.realestate

.realtor

.realty

.retirement

.tax

.trade

17

New gTLD Examples: RetailNew gTLD Examples: Retail

.[bazaar] Arabic

.[shopping] Chinese

.ads

.bargains

.buy

.[cell] Chinese

.cheap

.christmas

.coupon

.deal

.dealer

.deals

.direct

18

.discount

.fashion

.fashion

.[fashion] Japanese

.free

.[mall] Chinese

.[online shopping] Chinese

.review

.reviews

.sale

.[sale] Japanese

.save

.shop

.shopping

.[shopping] Chinese

.store

.[store] Chinese

.[store] Japanese

.style

.today

.vip

.[vogue fashion] Chinese

New gTLD Examples: HealthNew gTLD Examples: Health

.clinic

.dental

.dentist

.docs

.doctor

.fitness

.health

.healthcare

.heart

.hospital

.med

.medical

.pharmacy

.stroke

.surgery

.vet

19

New gTLD Examples: Food New gTLD Examples: Food

.food

.beer

.coffee

.cooking

.eat

.eco

.farm

.farmers

.green

.grocery

.kosher

.organic

.restaurant

.wine

[.food] Japanese

20

New gTLD Examples: TravelNew gTLD Examples: Travel

21

.active

.auto

.autos

.camera

.camp

.car

.cars

.cruise

.cruises

.earth

.express

.flights

.fly

.global

.[globe] Chinese

.holiday

.hotel

.hoteles

.hotels

.international

.lifestyle

.map

.mobile

.motorcycles

.phone

.photo

.photography

.photos

.pics

.pictures

.place

.room

.ski

.sport

.sports

.tour

.tours

.town

.vacations

.voyage

.watch

.watches

.world

.[world] Chinese

New gTLD Examples: Non-ProfitsNew gTLD Examples: Non-Profits

.charity

.foundation

.ngo

.ong

22

New gTLD Examples: CauseNew gTLD Examples: Cause

.democrat

.eco

.gay

.green

.republican

.vote

.voting

23

New gTLD Examples: Geographic/GovernmentNew gTLD Examples: Geographic/Government

.abudhabi

.alsace

.amsterdam

.barcelona

.berlin

.boston

.capetown

.catalonia

.cologne

.corsica

.cymru

.dubai

24

.hamburg

.istanbul

.london

.miami

.nyc

.quebec

.rio

.roma

.swiss

.[foshan]

.[quangdong]

.[shenzhen]

New gTLD Examples: Others of InterestNew gTLD Examples: Others of Interest

.adult

.airforce

.architect

.art

.attorney

.audio

.auto

.baby

.bar

.baseball

.bible

.book

.boston

.career

.catholic

.christmas

.college

.corp

.dating

25

.education

.energy

.esq

.family

.film

.fishing

.florist

.football

.furniture

.gallery

.game

.global

.gmbh

.home

.house

.inc

.islam

.international

.kid

.kids

.law

.lawyer

.legal

.llc

.llp

.london

.love

.ltd

.madrid

.miami

.movie

.music

.news

.nyc

.photo

.porn

.radio

.salon

.scholarships

.school

.sex

.sucks

.ski

.spa

.sport

.university

.video

.vip

.yoga[.arab] Arabic

DisputesDisputes

Actions Against Applied-For TLDs

• Application Comment

• Existing Legal Rights Objection (“ELRO”)

– Handled by World Intellectual Property Office (“WIPO”)

– Object that an applied-for gTLD infringes trademark rights

• Community Objection

• Limited Public Interest Objection

• Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (“PDDRP”)

– Trademark owners against a registry whose conduct causes or materially contributes to trademark abuse

• Litigation?

26

Disputes cont’dDisputes cont’d

Actions Against Second Level Domain Registrants

• UDRP – same as before

• Litigation, e.g. Under ACPA – same as before

• Uniform Rapid Suspension (“URS”)

– Supposed to be lighter, quicker complement to UDRP, but actually has higher burden for complainant, more defenses for registrant

– Only remedy is temporary suspension of a domain name for the duration of the registration period

27

Current Political Issues Current Political Issues

• Brand owners seeking greater protection

• Complaints about one-owner generic gTLD applications filed primarily by Amazon and Google

• Complaints to and by governments

28

Strategic ConsiderationsStrategic Considerations

• Impact on the internet

• Impact on users

• Impact on search engine rankings

• Defensive registrations

• Watch services

• Post-registration disputes

29

Trademark Clearinghouse: BenefitsTrademark Clearinghouse: Benefits

• Receive notice when identical second-level DN registered

• Potential infringer receives notice of claim before registration

• Does not block infringements

• Validates trademark for use in sunrise period applications– Even with validation, need eligibility

30

Trademark Clearinghouse: Requirements (Based on ICANN Draft)Trademark Clearinghouse: Requirements (Based on ICANN Draft)

• Authorized contact (confirmed 1x per year)

• Trademark registration (or statute, treaty, or court order)– Exceptions (Supplemental, no dots)

– Characters (@, &, other) and spaces

– Other languages

• For use in sunrise, also need– Signed declaration of use

– Sample of use

31

Trademark Clearinghouse: Requirements (Based on ICANN Draft) cont’dTrademark Clearinghouse: Requirements (Based on ICANN Draft) cont’d

• Anticipate $150 filing fee/mark– Does not include sunrise costs

– May not include multiple exact matches

• Prompt notice of changes (assignment, abandonment)

• Yearly re-verification/renewal

• Proof of use every 5 years

• Mechanism available to challenge others’ submissions

32

Trademark Clearinghouse: TimingTrademark Clearinghouse: Timing

• Was slated to open in October and close in January

• Disagreement with registries over design and efficiency

• Disagreement with brand owners over duration and extent of similarity

• Just opened public comment period (closes November 7)

• Launch date unknown (at least 90 days before first gTLD launches)

33

Current Timeline (Likely to Change)Current Timeline (Likely to Change)

• ICANN has started evaluating gTLD apps

• October: Government early warnings

• October: ICANN meeting in Toronto

• December: Prioritization drawing

• March 13: Deadline to file gTLD disputes

• April 2013: Government advice

• June/July: Finish evaluations of all gTLD apps

• Q3-Q4 2013: First new gTLDs launch

34

Take-AwaysTake-Aways

• Assess whether to file gTLD disputes

• Consider which gTLDs have marketing value

• Plan defensive registration strategy

• Prepare to enter marks into Trademark Clearinghouse

• Select watch service provider, once available

• Monitor political developments & ICANN policy

• Monitor business realities

35

Questions?Questions?

Jamie Nafzigernafziger.jamie@dorsey.com

Mark Wagnerwagner.mark@dorsey.com

36