ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse is set to begin accepting registrations on March 26, 2013. From that date, trade-mark owners can upload their trade-mark data — qualifying it for the service.
The Clearing House is a “rights protection mechanism” for the new top level domain program. It allows Trade-mark owners, who register, to protect their marks in new gTLDs during the sunrise periods — before it is open to the general public.
Registration in the Clearinghouse will ensure that notification is received by the trade-mark owner when a domain name registration is an exact match to the trade-mark registered. However it only notifies on exact matches, and does not block others from registering it.
Applications start at $150 per mark per year — with discounts available for registrations in bulk.
In order to register, “proof of use” of the trade-mark must be submitted along with a ‘declaration of use’.
We urge you to now consider registering your important marks in the Clearinghouse and begin compiling the required information. For further information please do not hesitate to contact us.
Questions? If you have any questions please call 613-232-5300 to speak to a professional or email us at OwnWhatsYours@aventum.law.
