Last year we blogged on the release of a large number of new ‘top level domains’ (TLDs). A TLD is the part at the far right of a domain, the most common being “.com”, and country code specific TLDs, such as “.au” and “.nz”. The new TLDs being released include categories of goods and services, such as “.plumbing” and “.clothing”, and terms such as “.kiwi” and “.在线” (Chinese for “online”).
Before domains of a new TLD are released to the public, a sunrise period is held, which enables brand owners to pre-register domains that correspond to their trade marks. Sunrise periods for the first new TLDs are now open, and as such, trade mark owners now have the ability to register in new top level domains before the general public.
Sunrise services are managed through the Trademark Clearinghouse (http://trademark-clearinghouse.com). For a trade mark to be protected by the sunrise period it must be registered at the Trademark Clearinghouse. If you would like assistance in registering your trade mark with the Trademark Clearinghouse, please contact us.
We strongly recommend that brand owners should closely monitor the release of new TLDs as part of their brand protection strategy.