To obtain a sunrise registration required a valid contract containing
certain required TM elements, i.e. matching registered trademark, eligible trademark
date before 01OCT00, country of TM and trademark number, between the registrant,
registrar and registry. If the application did not contain those four mandatory TM
elements, then there was no contract and a hence no registration in theory could
occur. Whether the registry and registars didn't check applications for the required
TM elements initially is part of the issue. The registry and it's registrars can
not knowingly accept an ineligible application. The registry and it's registrars
had an obligation to review the applications for validity before forming a contract.
Registrations arising from applications containing incomplete TM elements are invalid
and must be canceled,(and the monies accepted returned to the registrants and the
domains reoffered), simply because there could be no contract. The registrants have
no title or property rights to those "no-contract" registrations. Registration title
or property rights can only arise from a valid contract. Bottom line: no valid application
...no valid contract...no valid registration. The registry possibly anticipated this,
hence perhaps this was some of the reason for the "lock". Registrations containing
spurious trademark data, if any, are likewise invalid and must be canceled, although
the registry has a lesser degree of responsibility, if any, in those situations unless
advised of the spurious data. The above may or may not be correct, may or may not
reflect a real situation, and should be only considered as entertainment to foster
discussion.
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