HOW TRADEMARK OWNERS CAN BEAT THE RUSH FOR DOT-INFO

ICANN has selected dot-info as the next unrestricted generic top-level domain. Open registrations are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2001.

In an attempt to minimize abusive domain name registrations, Afilias, the dot-info Registry, will employ a Sunrise Period to allow qualified trademark owners to register their mark as a domain name through participating ICANN registrars. This period will begin approximately 90 days before the start of the open registration period.

During this Sunrise Period, the owner of any valid registered trademark or service mark having national effect (explicit inclusion of EU marks and exclusion of US state registrations) that issued prior to October 2, 2000 will be eligible to register a domain name that is identical to its mark, using ASCII characters only.

The dot-info Registry will not provide preferential treatment among competing trademark owners that have a registration for the same mark. Thus, the procedure is first-come first-serve for multiple owners of identical marks (i.e. United for goods Airlines and UNITED for goods Moving Services) Moreover, the Registry will not be accepting pre-registrations of domain names for this Sunrise Period. Because the registry will be employing an equitable allocation process among participating registrars, potential registrants should carefully analyze any claims by a registrar offering priority placement in the registration queue.

The Sunrise registration will be for an initial term of five years. Sunrise applicants must provide the trademark serial number, jurisdiction or country of registration and date of trademark registration with each submitted sunrise registration.

The Sunrise Program is broken down into the following three periods:

Announcement Period: This announcement period will last for a minimum of thirty (30) days, although it can be extended. However, under no circumstance will the registration period begin until the trademark community has had at least 30 days public notice.

Registration Period: Following the announcement period and at least sixty (60) days prior to the TLD being added to the root server system, Afilias will begin the registration period. During this time it will begin processing domain name registrations among eligible trademark owners through ICANN accredited registrars. This registration period is scheduled to last for a minimum of thirty (30) days.

Cooling Off Period: After the registration period, there will be a minimum thirty (30) day cooling off period in which trademark owners will have the opportunity to investigate any fraud by domain name registrants and initiate a challenge.

Anyone interested in participating in the Sunrise period to proactively register their trademarks, should contact NetNames at info@gtld.com with their contact details.