Registry files patent application for brand protection tool.
Donuts wants to patent the Domain Protected Marks List (DPML), a service that helps brand owners prevent their trademarks from being registered across multiple top level domains.
The company filed U.S. patent application 13/804919 (pdf) in March 2013 for “Domain Protected Marks List Based Techniques For Managing Domain Name Registrations”. The application was published today.
DPML allows brand owners can pay a fee to block their domains from registration across all of the domains the registry manages.
The retail cost of Donuts’ DPML is about $3,000 for five years. If Donuts ends up managing 200 domains, that would be $3 per domain blocked per year.
Both Donuts and its partner Rightside offer DPML services. Interestingly, Rightside, not Donuts, has filed trademark applications for “Domain Protected Marks List”.
GoDaddy has a patent too. The whole thing is pretty funny when you think of it.
Paying for “Protection” is a stupid term, because it’s basically just paying for the exclusive right to buy, or prevent people from buying domains. They are making an assumption that any potential buyer has fraudulent intentions.
In the long run, this will serve to block more legitimate buyers than fraudulent buyers. So, instead of simply using existing laws that protect Trademark owners from fraudulent use of their brands, they will have to deal with lawsuits from people who want to buy a blocked domain.
its a good step for Donuts that they wants to patent DPML…. it will be profitable for them
And whatever the claims wind up defining, it will be of no effect whatsoever on a registry located outside of the United States.
Hmmm. I wonder if the IRT report is prior art . .. .