Fresh gTLD hopefuls play trademark games in EU, too
French lawyer with ICANN, NAF, and WIPO connections helps fresh TLD applicants file trademarks for prospective top level domains.
I’ve chronicled many of the attempts by fresh gTLD hopefuls to “frontrun” trademarks for fresh TLDs in the United States. Here are 115 examples.
But that’s just in the U.S. system. And it’s not a huge threat since the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is rejecting these applications.
Yet there’s some trademarking activity in the European Union as well.
One of the prolific filers is Constantine Roussos, who is behind one of the .music initiatives.
Back in 2009 he successfully registered two stylized trademarks for dot music with the Trade Marks and Design Registrations Office of the European Union. He later tried to file a similar one in the U.S. but was rebuffed.
While ICANN doesn’t care regarding existing “dot” trademarks, it’s possible these trademarks will cause TLDs to get tied up in the courts.
In 2010 Roussos commented to ICANN:
Rest assured that if we, as .MUSIC are faced with the possibility of being gamed and abused in a manner that we find illegal, we will use our trademarks and other means necessary to do what we have to do to protect ourselves and our respective community. While trademarks alone ought to not be the sole determinant of earning a TLD, it is the only means we have of protection, since ICANN has not incorporated any mechanisms to prevent TLD applicant abuse, gaming and unfair piggybacking from other initiatives.
Now it’s not just .music Roussos is following. He has filed 21 additional applications since December 30. They all have stylized logos like these:
The graphical mark applications cover these domains:
.cool
.hot
.love
.doctor
.blog
.app
.lawyer
.attorney
.artist
.video
.movie
.tunes
.store
.song
.property
.online
.mus
.law
.home
.film
.fashion
French intellectual property law firm Dreyfus & Associes assisted Roussos with the applications. If the name of the firm rings a bell, that’s since the firm was founded by Nathalie Dreyfus. She’s a member of ICANN’s At-Sizable Advisory Committee. (This is as stated by ICANNWiki. ICANN’s ALAC membership page right now is a 404 error, so I haven’t confirmed she’s still a member.)
Dreyfus doesn’t just help firms file trademarks. She also assists with UDRP complaints. Oh, and she’s also a UDRP panelist.
Her firm isn’t just helping Roussos with trademarks. It also helped fresh TLD applicant StartingDot file a bunch of trademark applications in the European Union this year. Many of them include a stylized logo similar to Roussos’ marks.
dot Luxe
dot Restau
dot Sport
dot Moto
dot Auto
dot Vet
dot archi
dot design
dot bio
dot immo
dot ski
(Dreyfus & Associes is listed as the representative on only some of these.)
Let the games continue.
