The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has embarked on a programme of allowing new generic top-level domains on the internet (like .com), an initiative that has worried trademark holders and international organisations.
ICANN has recently appointed WIPO as ” the exclusive provider of dispute resolution services for trademark based ‘pre-delegation’ Legal Rights Objections under ICANN’s New gTLD Program”. ”
WIPO will be handling objections to proposed strings filed by Trademark and other rights holders and is part of the Trademark Rights Protection Mechanism for new gTLD’s.
About WIPO.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 “to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world”
Currently ICANN has assigned WIPO and NAF (The National Arbitration Forum) as the only dispute resolution providers for the current generic TLD’s.
For more information regarding the the legal rights/objections under ICANN’s new gTLD program visit the following link here.
