Survey states: fresh TLDs are no longer a big deal for brand enforcers

The calm following the storm for trademark owners.

World Trademark Review published select data from its annual Global Trademark Benchmarking Survey today.

When it comes to fresh top level domain names, 61% of respondents stated their domain enforcement strategy had not changed in the last 12 months in light of the gTLD rollout. This number is substantially higher than in previous years.

Also, on a list of issues and how much of a threat they pose to trademark portfolios, domain name infringement fell five spots from last year.

World Trademark Review writes:

So is this relative calm a sign that the worst fears of counsel did not become a reality, that pre-existing strategies were well-suited to the expanded online space or that enforcement approaches have by now been cannily adapted to cater to the fresh environment? The answer is likely a mix of the three.

Keep in mind that most sizable firms by now changed their strategy ahead of fresh TLDs launched and in the year thereafter, so it makes sense that strategies aren’t changing much over the past year.