ICANN just posted a letter sent from the President of the GNSO Intellectual Property Constituency to ICANN of it’s “Consensus Position of
Business Constituency and Intellectual Property Constituency” for changes for the new gTLD program
- Extend Sunrise Launch Period from 30 to 60 days with a standardized process.
- Extend the TMCH and Claims Notices for an indefinite period; ensure the process is easy to use, secure, and stable.
- Complete the URS as a low cost alternative and improve its usefulness – if necessary, ICANN could underwrite for an initial period.
- Implement a mechanism for trademark owners to prevent second-level registration of their marks (exact matches, plus character strings previously determined to have been abusively registered or used) across all registries, upon payment of a reasonable fee, with appropriate safeguards for registrants with a legitimate right or interest.
- Validate contact information for registrants in WHOIS.
- All registrars active in new gTLD registrations must adhere to an amended RAA for all gTLD registrations they sponsor.
- Enforce compliance of all registry commitments for Standard applications.
- Expand TM Claims service to cover at least strings previously found to have been abusively registered or used.
