I just went through the .Expert Zone file which contains Sunrise registrations which are available to those having valid trademark which filed with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH).
I picked out some of the more interesting Sunrise registration and some day 1 and day 2 registrations which cost as much as $12,500 depending on the registrar the domains were registered with.
On the Sunrise side Apple went in and grabbed Mac.Expert. I haven’t seen Apple registering a lot of MAC new gTLD’s this one seems like a very good registration.
Bowling.Expert has a registration date of May 5th which is the day all Sunrise applications are created but has an updated date of May 7th which would be the 1st day of registration with the $12,500 cost, however the expiration date is May 5th, 2015 so it sure looks like a domain that was grabbed in Sunrise, which is pretty troubling.
The registrant is Evergold of Hollywood, Florida. There is no trademark for the term “Bowling” in the US.
Another domain awarded in Sunrise which seem pretty generic is WebHost.Expert to Web Host Limited of Hong Kong.
Hello.Expert was registered in Sunrise to Armando Ramos of Madrid Spain.
Indeed.Expert was registered in Sunrise to Indeed, Inc of Connecticut.
One domain that was registered on the 1st day of availability again at a cost of up to $12,500, depending on the registrar, was Propane.Expert which was registered by The Blossman Companies, Inc. of Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Immigration.expert was registered on day 2 (EAP 2) for around $3,200 depending on the registrar.
Also registered on day 2 were the domain names, MLM.Expert and Diet.Expert
Other interesting domains awarded in Sunrise are:
| about.expert |
| alexa.expert |
| amazon.expert |
| audi.expert |
| axis.expert |
| bfgoodrich.expert |
| blockbuster.expert |
| blockbusterondemand.expert |
| booking.expert |
| bosch.expert |
| cirrus.expert |
| citrix.expert |
| claritas.expert |
| consumerreports.expert |
| consumersunion.expert |
| core.expert |
| doubleclick.expert |
| excel.expert |
| f-1.expert |
| googlefiber.expert |
| googleglass.expert |
| grandprix.expert |
| hangouts.expert |
| hopper.expert |
| hrs.expert |
| loreal.expert |
| members.expert |
| merck.expert |
| mesh.expert |
| michelin.expert |
| mma.expert |
| pearl.expert |
| powerpoint.expert |
| prime.expert |
| rpc.expert |
| tailgater.expert |
| xbox.expert |
| yahoo.expert |
It makes sense that a big consumer tech company with proprietary technology and branded retail stores everywhere like Apple would want to own Mac.expert. Apple is a common target for cybersquatting. $12,500 is a drop in the ocean for them. And they could sensibly put this domain to use.
But the others? Hello.expert, Indeed.expert, WebHost.expert, and particularly Bowling.expert would each be $12,500 wasted.
No cybersquatter, no competitor, and nobody at the company (however paranoid) has ever cared to spend $8 on IndeedExpert.com for the sake of brand protection or usage. So why this sudden necessity to spend 1,500+ times as much on the same string in a much less popular form? Will they be repeating this $12,500 expense in dozens or hundreds of other extensions too?
BowlingExpert.com appears to be for sale, and I doubt the owner would have asked $12,500 for it. The minimum offer for his form is $2k. Of course, now he can ask more!
.EXPERT is fine by me. Buys like these make some sense:
Diet.expert
Mac.expert
Amazon.expert
Excel.expert
PowerPoint.expert
Those could actually be put to use. Brand protection these days is cheaper with lawyers than with defensive registrations. And the corporate waste here (and elsewhere) is appalling.
Michael,
I can confirm that “BOWLING” is in the TMCH as a trademark from Argentina for “CLASS 41 (Education and entertainment) Education; providing of training; entertainment; sporting and cultural activities.”
the trademark was registered back in 1995 by this operator of bowling alleys.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brazil-based-playcenter-sa-and-amf-bowling-worldwide-form-joint-venture-in-south-america-75789857.html
Tom
Can you also confirm that by gaming the TMCH getting a trademark for a generic term that would never be granted in most developed countries not only does the TM holder get early access to the domain but they only have to pay the cost of the Sunrise registration lets call it $250 and even through its a otherwise premium domain which say like football.expert which is around $5,500 a year by getting the domain in sunrise they can save in that example $55,000 in the course of a 10 year registration.
Joseph
You are confused.
If someone has a trademark they can apply during sunrise for the domain and pay the sunrise registration fee which is like $250. They don’t pay the Early Access Fee