.Whatever trademark applications are still being submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Before the application period for the current round of new top level domain names opened, many people and companies filed trademark applications to try to claim superior rights to strings. They applied for trademarks on .app, .wedding…you name it. The practice was known as new TLD trademark fronrunning.
This didn’t actually do them any good in the application process. The program was designed to prevent trademark frontrunning. But now that new TLDs are coming out, I think some people are hearing news stories and deciding to file trademarks for future new TLDs.
Last week two Houston men filed an intent-to-use trademark application for .resume for “Domain name registration services.”
Nobody applied for .resume in the current round. There’s no direct contact information for the trademark applicants, so I could not reach them to understand their intent.
Back in July someone filed a rather zany application for .mars.
Yes, .mars. I’m perplexed by the market opportunity for this domain name.
Back then I emailed the applicant to verify it was related to top level domain names. He responded:
“The .mars trademark application is indeed for a new TLD. We are currently pre-registering domains with the .mars extension.”
Perhaps the citizens of Mars are running a top level domain name expansion of their own.
John Berryhill says
“This didn’t actually do them any good in the application process”
The pull of legal voodoo is too strong for some to resist. People keep re-inventing classic cybersquatting as well. Whenever I run into one, it’s like finding a perfectly preserved woolly mammoth in the frozen tundra.
Meyer says
I’m sure many major band names, manufacturers and retailers will secure their name in the tld .mars.
They are doing it under the category of ‘future use’. They figure sometime within the next 100 yrs, someone will have a colony on Mars.
Great foresight !!!
To bad the same brand owners didn’t have the foresight to reserve the premium .com’s in 1940.
If I recall correctly, didn’t a particular registrar offer a 100 yr. registration option???
Bob says
Maybe .Mars is the candy company?
Joshua Davis says
Why would someone want a .mars extension? There is a private space flight company called Space X that is planning a mission to Mars and wants to eventually colonize it. It was founded by Elon Musk, who also founded PayPal and Tesla Motors. Just for the record, I don’t think there is or will be a market any time soon for the majority of new TLDs.
Bob says
Well, Mars, Inc. is a $30B company, much smaller .Brands have reserved their own TLDs.