At its meeting on November 16, 2000, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the not-for-profit entity charged by the U.S. government with various management functions concerning the Domain Name System, selected from various proposals seven new top-level domain names (TLDs), to add to the existing .com, .net and .org “generic” TLDs, i.e. domains which are unrestricted in their use. The new TLDs are .aero (for use within the air-transport industry), .biz (for businesses), .coop (for cooperatives), .info (a generic domain open to all), .museum (for museums), .name (for individuals) and .pro (for professionals, such as accountants and lawyers). Applications are being accepted for all of these domains, with the exception of .pro, which is expected to become available once negotiations concerning administrative matters with ICANN are completed.

The most important of these domain names to trademark owners are the .biz and .info domains in that the domain name registries held pre-registration or “sunrise” periods which allowed trademark owners to apply for their trademarks as .biz and .info domain names on a preferential basis before registration in these domains became available on a first come, first served basis.

Dispute resolution procedures modeled on the ICANN Uniform Dispute Resolution Procedure (UDRP) are also in place to protect trademark owners from anticipated “cybersquatting”, or the unauthorized registration by third parties of their trademarks as domain names for some wrongful purpose, such as to sell the domain name to the trademark owner for a price in excess of the cost of registration.

The newly introduced domains will be monitored and evaluated by ICANN with a view toward authorizing the release of additional top-level domains in the future.

Our clients should also be aware that certain companies are offering to sell domain names with extensions not authorized by ICANN, such as .FIRM, .GOLF and the like.

The interaction between trademarks and domain names is a rapidly developing area in which precautions must be taken to ensure that trademarks are protected on the Internet.