Trademark clearinghouse

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Trademark Clearinghouse is a database of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers , which was created as part of the introduction of new top-level domains for owners of registered trademarks . It has acted as a clearing house since March 2013 , which automatically informs brand owners about the use of their brands in domains . All domain name registries access the same information. The management consultancies IBM and Deloitte are entrusted with the operation of the Trademark Clearinghouse .

history

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers first implemented the Trademark Clearinghouse in autumn 2010 as part of the manual for applicants for a new top-level domain. In contrast to existing generic and country-specific top-level domains , which have different allocation criteria, a uniform way of recognizing legal violations should be created. Registered trademark owners should be able to store them in a register that can be used to automatically check newly registered domains. Registrars who did not want to implement the Trademark Clearinghouse were obliged to carry out a so-called sunrise phase when introducing their new top-level domain.

Registries and domain name registrars expressed criticism of the Trademark Clearinghouse: Among other things, the public provision of the database could lead to information about new products of a trademark owner becoming known too early. Furthermore, it must be ensured that between the trademark entry and new domains not only an exact comparison but also a similarity check is carried out, for example to identify typo domains .

After the entire process of introducing new top-level domains was delayed, the Trademark Clearinghouse finally started in March 2013. Although the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers classifies the Trademark Clearinghouse as an essential tool for protecting against trademark infringements , the demand for official information from the operator is not very large. In November 2013 there were only 14,000 entries in the database.

Mechanisms

The Trademark Clearinghouse can generally only be claimed for trademarks that are registered nationally or internationally in a trademark register, are protected by contracts or statutes or have been confirmed by a court. Other trademarks are not permitted unless recognized as intellectual property for other reasons . The Trademark Clearinghouse itself essentially consists of two mechanisms:

  • Sunrise Service : Before a new top-level domain is introduced, brand owners can register domains that contain their brands or at least clearly refer to them. This is to prevent third parties from registering domains in order to tap visitors ( cybersquatting ).
  • Trademark Claims Service : Trademark owners are notified when a domain is registered that contains one or more of their trademarks. At the same time, the registering natural or legal person is warned when attempting to register a domain that is recognized by the Trademark Clearinghouse.

The Trademark Clearinghouse cannot directly block abusive registrations: Interested parties can still ignore the warning from the Trademark Claims Service. Both of these mechanisms also only relate to second-level domains and do not apply if a trademark itself should be applied for as a top-level domain from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .

The Trademark Clearinghouse database can contain multiple entries for a word mark , for example under Apple for Apple Inc. and Apple Records . The Trademark Clearinghouse does not prevent several trademark owners from making claims to a domain. Registrations can be made directly to the Trademark Clearinghouse or submitted there via a so-called agent .

See also

literature

  • Hans-Peter Oswald: Registration of trademarks at the Trademark Clearinghouse . Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2013, ISBN 978-3-7322-3874-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monika Ermert: Clearing house for brand protection for new top level domains. In: heise nets. March 25, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Simon Hülsbömer: What to consider about the new domain endings. In: Computerwoche. January 12, 2012, accessed November 20, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: ICANN establishes Trademark Clearinghouse. In: domain-right. November 19, 2010, accessed November 20, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Bernd Beiser: New generic top level domains: Why all this? (No longer available online.) In: CHIP Business Blog. June 27, 2013, archived from the original on August 29, 2013 ; Retrieved November 20, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blog.chip.de
  5. ^ Daniel Dingeldey: Solution not in sight. In: domain-right. September 6, 2012, accessed November 20, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Hayo Lücke: ICANN starts Trademark Clearinghouse. In: Online costs. March 26, 2013, accessed November 20, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Florian Regensburger: Earning with home and identity online. Bayerischer Rundfunk, October 29, 2013, archived from the original on November 3, 2013 ; Retrieved November 20, 2013 .
  8. ^ Daniel Dingeldey: Hardly any demand for protection entries. In: domain-right. November 4, 2013, accessed November 20, 2013 .
  9. ↑ a b Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines. (PDF) (No longer available online.) March 25, 2013, archived from the original on September 6, 2013 ; accessed on November 20, 2013 (English, 2.3 MB). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.trademark-clearinghouse.com
  10. ^ Thomas Rickert: Trademark clearinghouse opened. (No longer available online.) Eco - Association of the German Internet Industry, April 3, 2013, formerly in the original ; Retrieved November 20, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.eco.de  
  11. ↑ A place for everyone on the WWW: The new top level domains are coming. In: Donaukurier. November 6, 2013, accessed November 20, 2013 .
  12. ^ Trademark Clearinghouse Whitepaper. (PDF) united-domains, October 2, 2013, accessed November 20, 2013 (703 KB).
  13. ↑ Andreas Schütz: Guest Comment: Trademark Clearinghouse. In: Computerwelt. August 8, 2013, accessed November 20, 2013 .