Dear TMCH Data Gathering Sub Team members,

 

We have received feedback from our GDD colleagues who we had asked to assist with forwarding the Sub Team’s questions to the TMCH Providers. As some of the clarifying questions seem to go toward substantive issues, we thought it preferable to send them back to the Sub Team for your confirmation and discussion. If it will help, we can arrange a call between the Sub Team, our GDD colleagues who are working with the Providers, and perhaps the Providers as well, to work through the questions so that the Providers have a good sense of what is being asked, and can tell us what they think they can provide in terms of data and input.

 

Please review the initial feedback from GDD below (in red), and let us know if you would like us to go ahead to arrange the suggested call, perhaps for next week or the week following.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-        How much time and resources were expended on educating TM owners and/or registrants on the TMCH?

-        Was outreach and education part of the TMCH remit? What are the contractual obligations for education imposed by ICANN, if any?

-        In what regions/languages were outreach sessions held?

 

 

 

-        Are there contracts for other uses, and if so, how many?

-        If there are no such contracts, is the TMCH aware of other uses?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the TMCH page on the New gTLD microsite, the process of invalidating a trademark is described as below. Can the Sub Team clarify that this is what is being asked about and, if so, use the term “revocation?”

SMD Revocation

Revoking an SMD is the process of invalidating an SMD before its expiration date. The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) may invalidate an SMD for several reasons, including security or data validation issues. The list (SMDRL) of revoked SMDs is maintained as part of the Trademark Database (TMCH) and published as specified in section 6.2 of the TMCH Functional Specifications. If your product uses SMDs, you must verify that the SMD has not been revoked as described in section 5.3.2 of the aforementioned Internet-draft.

 

 

The Dispute Resolution Process covers three types of disputes:

·         Disputes brought by Trademark Holders or Trademark Agents alleging that the Clearinghouse incorrectly rejected a Trademark Record;

·         Disputes brought by Third Parties alleging that the Clearinghouse incorrectly accepted a Trademark Record; and

·         Disputes brought by Third Parties alleging that a Trademark Record is no longer valid based on new information (i.e. information not available to the Verification Provider at the time it reviewed the Trademark Record).

Would it be preferable to get a list of disputes by type?

 

Further clarity may also be needed regarding the “already been canceled” part of the question - the Registry is responsible for downloading the SMDRL every 24 hours and has to check against that prior to validating an SMD. Is the question related to the theoretical 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds during which that file is not refreshed by the registry? Or is the question asking about registries that did not check the SMDRL prior to issuing the sunrise registration?

 

Assuming that DPML stands for Donuts offering the service called Domains Protected Marks List, there is only one DPML service called that. Minds+Machines has a similar service called Minds + Machines Protected Marks List or MPML. Both of these services are very similar in that they require the trademark holder to have a valid SMD file. Does the Sub Team consider that as being supported by the TMCH, or is this a broader question about blocking services in general?

 

 

 

There may be multiple questions here and perhaps a misunderstanding of terms.

 

The first part of the question asks “What is the percentage of trademark registrations… by country/region?” By using the term “trademark registrations”, did the Sub Team mean a total of the Sunrise registrations and Claims registrations?

 

The second part of the question asks for the percentage of Sunrise registrations… by country/region. Is this asking for the location of the registrant by country/region or the location of the trademark holder (or agent)?

 

The third part of the question asks for Claims Notices sent. By the phrasing, can it be assumed that this does not mean Claims Notice Information Service (CNIS) notices displayed to potential registrants, but rather the Notice of Registered Domain Name (NORN) files sent to trademark holders?

 

Thanks and cheers

Mary and David