ICANN's new gTLD domain names -- "lots of cybersquatting, but not a lot of innovation" --
As reported yesterday in expVC.com, this week is the annual meeting of INTA (The International Trademark Association) in Hong Kong, and trademark counsel are ganging up on ICANN's new gTLD domain names --
Verizon counsel slams gTLD opportunists - Blog - World Trademark Review:“We have seen lots of cybersquatting but not a lot of innovation, which was one of the arguments for the new gTLDs programme”. So stated Sarah B Deutsch, vice president and associate general counsel for Verizon Communications, speaking at the INTA Annual Meeting earlier today, where she added: “We are seeing a steady flow of cybersquatters jumping in as new gTLDs roll out”. She therefore called on trademark counsel to record instances of abuse to inform later reviews of the gTLD programme... she urged brand owners to collect data on what has been registered as this will inform future discussions on trademark protections (an argument backed up by Covington & Burling’s Kristina Rosette, who noted: “There will be various upcoming reviews of the gTLD progamme and it is important that trademark owners not only participate, but have data on Sunrise participation, registrations and how much they have had to spend....” (read more at the World Trademark Review)
ICANN was warned about all of this, but apparently greed won out over common sense, the public interest, and trademarks. Unfortunately, another consequence of ICANN's misguided and ill-advised new gTLDs program is that this kind of blowback will also affect honest domain name investors and registrants, even in the legacy domains (.com, .net, and .org), with even more UDRP decisions which are abusive of registrants' rights.
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