Law Firm Fear Mongering Over Fresh TLDs

An example of how a law firm is cashing in on fresh top level domains.

As I’ve stated ahead of, I understand why trademark holders are apprehensive regarding the introduction of fresh top level domain names. It’s indisputable that the release of hundreds of fresh top level domain names will be costly and time consuming from a brand protection perspective. But, as I noted, they are also overstating the problem.

To peer into the fear mongering undertaken by legal experts, look no further than Bracewell & Giuliani’s latest article. It starts out by suggesting the introduction of fresh gTLDs is imminent:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) is on track to open cybersquatting floodgates with its release of hundreds of fresh generic Top-Level Domain Names (“gTLDs”) by the first quarter of 2010.

This is both factually incorrect and misleading. First of all, ICANN has by now changed the date from Q1 2010 to H1 2010. Second, that’s just for applications…not the actual use of the fresh TLDs on the web. I predict that will be mid 2011 at the earliest.

The law firm then urges firms to file trademarks now to protect brands when fresh top level domains are introduced:

Since both the proposed Trademark Clearinghouse and the proposed URS largely rely on registered trademarks, all trademark holders ought to immediately seek registration for any valuable unregistered trademarks both domestically with the U.S. Trademark Office and internationally.

This sort of behaviour — rushing to file for trademarks that otherwise would not be filed for — is one reason rules specific to fresh TLDs and trademarks ought to rely on trademarks filed ahead of fresh rights protection measures were proposed.