Wants patent for verifying eligibility to register reserved names — Unstoppable Domains

Patent application describes multiple ways to verify eligibility to register reserved names automatically.

Web3 naming firm Unstoppable Domains has filed a patent application (pdf) covering a process of reserving names and then verifying that a registrant is authorized to register these names.

The firm filed its application for “Domain name registration based on verification of entities of reserved names” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 13, 2022. It was published today.

The patent can be broken down into two steps.

First, it uses systems to identify which names ought to be reserved from registration. For example, it scans resources such as social media sites to determine popular firm and personal names and uses these to populate a database of reserved names.

Second, when someone tries to register one of those names, they must pass a verification process. Unstoppable Domains proposes many possible verification techniques:

1. Logging in to a social media account connected to the brand/name
2. Posting something (such as a key/signature) to a social media account linked to the brand
3. Verifying ownership of a blockchain wallet connected to the brand
4. Verifying ownership of a domain in another system that is connected to the brand, such as by uploading a .txt file to a website or adding a nameserver or TXT record to the domain
5. Using biometrics, such as comparing an upload of the person’s driver’s license to a database or using fingerprints

Unstoppable Domains does not appear to have implemented any of these ideas itself. If you try registering cocacola.x at Unstoppable Domains, the site asks you to fill out a form to start a manual verification process.