As the time draws closer to the launch of the new gTLD’s more and more organizations have to decide if they want to add their trademark terms to the Trademark Clearing House (TMCH) for protection.  I do see some value in this but there are also a lot of gaps in the system, which I will share with you.  Each company needs to weigh the pros and cons of submitting their trademarks to the TMCH and decide make the most sense for their brands. 

The International Trademark Association (INTA) Annual Meeting marked its 135^th year in Dallas, Texas.  There was no short supply of cowboy hats and warm southern hospitality to meet the delegates as they convened into downtown Dallas.  At this point, I am not sure what the attendee number will be this year, but they say that it is on track to beat last year’s Washington, DC meeting which opened its doors to 9600 attendees – a new record. 

On March 7–8, 2013, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA was the epicenter for IP practitioners seeking clarity and actionable advice in the areas of global brand portfolio management, enforcement in social media, and opportunities and challenges in the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) landscape. Some 177 participants from around the globe braved blustery conditions to attend nine fast-paced sessions held over two days. 

Monitoring newly registered domains has always been an important part of protecting your brand but now with the emergence of the new gTLD’s it has become even more important.  Yes there have been systems put in place like the Trademark Clearing House but all this basically accomplishes is a reporting notification that your exact mark is being registered with a new gTLD .  What about the typo’?  Or trying to have the content removed?  Or monitoring the domain for any change in content once it has been registered?  Also you need to pay for each mark you register to the clearing house so if you are a company with a lot of brands this could get very expensive. 

Imagine an online world where dot EVERYTHING was possible. Now, everything to the right of the dot will no longer be limited to .com, .org, .edu , soon you will see new gTLDs that are dot EVERYTHING. Many financial institutions believe that by creating their own domain extensions for example, “.Barclays” , “.paypal “ or “.bank” can enhance security and customer trust thereby decreasing fraudulent websites.  No doubt, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN’s) new gTLD program is going to change the internet landscape. The question that many internet security experts like myself are asking, is how will all this affect phishing and internet scams?  Phishing is one of the top online threats today and has been around for over a decade now. Why haven’t we been able to get rid of phishing sites for good? Cybercriminals continue to gain from phishing sites because it’s easy and simple to launch.  Every attack is built with end-users emotions in mind. The driving force of success of phishing sites are their social engineering components and manipulation of human emotion. Online users still click on malicious links, fall for scams and get drawn in by enticing phishing emails.  RSA’s 2012 statistics reveal 32, 581 attacks happen on average each month, which is a 19% increase globally compared to 2011.[1] According to APWG, financial companies are continually the most targeted industry. The idea behind the new gTLDs and having for example a .bank domain is to ensure online banking customers that they are on a legitimate banking site.

It is 2013 and there is a flurry of activity surrounding the new generic top-level domains (new gTLDs).  Clarifying questions (CQs), enforcement opportunity deadlines and webinars about the new gTLDs have all been a part of this ever changing internet landscape, particularly if you are a trademark owner or applicant.  With the new gTLDs slated to be launched on April 23, where are we now in the process?

Your first question probably is: What is a Privacy and Proxy services and how does it affect me? To answer that we must first answer what is Whois? The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (known as ICANN) regulates registrars. Whenever someone registers a domain (gTLD) though an ICANN accredited reseller or registrar, they are required to post their contact information on the Whois database (non-centralized) which is publicly accessible.

More than 9,000 intellectual property professionals will convene May 5–9 in Washington, D.C. for INTA’s 2012 Annual Meeting – the premier trademark event for networking, continuing legal education, and committee and client meetings.