IP Paranoia

["Michele Neylon :: Blacknight" <michele@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of the topics of concern that has been cited on numerous occasions by 
people working in the area of intellectual property is that they and their 
clients will have to protect their brands in 100s of new TLDs.

While there may be a certain degree of truth in that assertion I personally 
believe that it has served as a distraction for many.

If, hypothetically, 200 new TLDs were to launch within the next 36 months, how 
many of them would actually be open to all?

How many would have restrictions of some kind? 

What is the trademark holders' greatest fear? 

Is it a "dreaded" domainer ?

If that is the case then surely the reaction among domainers to the launch of 
.tel and the new tlds should be taken into account

In reality, from what I have seen at least, most of the domainers are focussed 
almost entirely on .com and ccTLDs (albeit to a lesser extent)

While many brand names may be registered during an initial sunrise / landrush 
period a lot of them get dropped shortly after the first renewal cycle.

So should brand managers  / trademark holders worry?

Yes, in as much as they do already, however their fear of a possible 
infringement should not cripple what could amount to a second wave for the 
internet in many respects.

If someone were to create .phone, for example, it would make sense that Nokia 
(for example again) were to register Nokia.phone. It wouldn't make as much 
sense for them to register every single phone model that they have. If I was 
going to invest in a TLD I'd want to see "buy in" from big brands before I'd 
personally spend my hard earned cash on speculation and I suspect that I am not 
alone in that view.

Not all new TLDs will prove to be successful. Some will successfully serve 
their community, others won't. 

Let's not be paralysed with fear, but focus instead on putting fair and 
equitable measures in place that balance all stakeholders rights as equally as 
possible

regards

Michele (in a semi-personal capacity)



--
Mr Michele Neylon
Blacknight Solutions
Hosting & Colocation, Brand Protection
http://www.blacknight.com/
http://blog.blacknight.com/
Intl. +353 (0) 59  9183072
Locall: 1850 929 929
Fax. +353 (0) 1 4811 763
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