Applies for .art (and claims trademarks) — Aremi Group

Firm discloses plans for .art and states it has trademarks for it as well.

Aremi Group is the latest to announce a formal application for a top level domain, announcing (pdf) that it has applied for .art.

The Luxembourg firm states the mission of .art is to “provide a unique online space in which creatively-inclined members of the Internet community, individuals and institutions alike, can share their works and ideas with those seeking creative content.”

The more interesting thing to me is the notice on the bottom of the firm’s press release:

.ART and DOT ART are trademarks of Aremi Group S.A.
Unauthorized use may result in violations of European or United States trademark law.

The firm just applied with the European Union on April 23 for “.art” and “dot art” trademarks (the same day it registered the domain name YourDotArt.com). The firm also told me it applied with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, although that application has not been posted yet.

Even more clever, the European marks claim priority to marks filed in Jamaica in 2011.

I’m telling you again, this sort of trademark issue is going to cause all sorts of problems for contested top level domains.