My PFF colleague Mike Palage just released a paper about a series of recent applications for national trademark rights in terms that correspond to likely strings for new top-level domain names, or TLDs, (e.g., “.BLOG”). These attempts highlight just one way in which ICANN’s new generic TLD (gTLD) application process is likely to be “gamed.” But it is also a strategy to which some trademark holders may feel compelled to resort to defend their rights to that string. Unfortunately, it does not appear that ICANN is addressing these important public policy considerations. In fact, based upon some of the provisions in the proposed draft registry agreements, it appears that ICANN staff’s actions may increase, rather than decrease, the ambiguity that opens the door to such gaming of the system.
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