Answers to two questions about the TMCH extending alerts beyond 90 days.
Yesterday I wrote about how the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) is extending the amount of time it will alert trademark holders if someone registers domains that contain their mark. Originally set for just 90 days, now the TMCH will extend the service for as long as a mark is registered with the TMCH. (For more background, see my previous story.)
Some readers brought up good questions, which I posed to TMCH.
Domain Name Wire: Currently, are registries only required to ping the TMCH for the first 90 days? Will they now have to do it longer? If not, how will TMCH find out what domains are registered?
This Ongoing Claims Notifications service is an add-on to existing services for which the Trademark Holder registered for a period of 1, 3 or 5 years and is free of charge for both Clearinghouse Agents as Trademark Holders. As this is free of charge, no additional costs will be charged to the registries either.
The Clearinghouse will create an extra interface that works separately from the existing TMDB interface for the 90 days Claims Notifications (during these 90 days registries have to pay 0.25 USD per registration when there is a successful registration matching a mark in the Clearinghouse). The 90+ interface will charge no such fee when there is an exact match.
Should a registry opt not to join the Clearinghouse in this expansion of the Right Protection Mechanism, the Clearinghouse will scrape the zone files, either through a third party provider or use its own resources.
Domain Name Wire: Who made the decision to extend the service? Was any approval from ICANN required?
The Clearinghouse is committed to offering additional, value-added services to owners of recorded marks in the TMCH database.
This will be done in consultation the broader ICANN community wherever appropriate and, where necessary, with ICANN’s approval prior to launch.
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