Posts Tagged: "icann"

At a Crossroads: Developing a Standardized Access System to Domain Name Registration Data

As the European Union’s landmark Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was set to go into effect in 2018, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) engaged in a series of important, albeit belated, community consultations, with the objective of resolving perceived community concerns with legal compliance of the “Look Up” system (previously called the “WHOIS” system) with data protection laws, such as the GDPR. The end result of the consultations resulted in ICANN adopting a “Temporary Specification” (Temp Spec) – a new contractual provision allowing its accredited-registrars and registries to perform a wholesale redaction of the registration data that has historically been made available to the public.

Protect Your Rights Online: Understanding ICANN’s New gTLDs and RPMs

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the California-based nonprofit public-benefit organization with authority over the global Internet’s system of unique identifiers, e.g. IP addresses and domain names, known as generic top-level domains (gTLDs). ICANN’s New gTLD Program has seen the addition of more than 1,200 top-level domains to the Internet’s Domain Name System.  Each new gTLD is contractually obligated to provide a set of trademark Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs), including mainly the Trademark Claims Service, Sunrise, and the Uniform Rapid Suspension system, discussed more fully below. From the perspective of brand owners, new gTLDs—like the Internet itself—continue to create both opportunities and challenges for protecting intellectual property and serving consumers in the online marketplace.

5 Mistakes Businesses Make with Trademarks and Brands

Although running an early-stage startup is exhilarating, do not let your brand name protection be swallowed up by all the excitement. Neglecting to properly secure a trademark for your company and products can lead to expensive consequences in the future, such as being forced to rebrand just as you’re gaining traction or being unable to stop infringers from using your brand name. Below are 5 of the most common mistakes businesses make with trademarks and what you can do to avoid them.

Trademark Enforcement Implications of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The WHOIS database provides technical information about the date of creation and expiration of a domain, as well as contact information for the registrant of a website, including name, physical address, email address, and phone numbers. GoDaddy and WHOIS.com appear to have selectively redacted the information only for registrants providing an EU contact address. However, given the difficultly of determining which domain owners are EU citizens, many registrars, such as Tucows, removed data for all domains regardless of where the registrant is located. In light of this WHOIS blackout, the GDPR has effectively made it easier for counterfeiters and infringers to evade detection.

The GDPR In Full Effect: What Will Happen to WHOIS?

It has been a long time coming, but the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is almost here. This new privacy regulation requires substantial changes to the collection and storage of data and will affect multiple disciplines, including the brand protection industry. One of the ‘victims’ of the new law is the WHOIS database. How will these changes affect its records?