Donuts, a domain name registry that applied for more than 300 generic top level domains (gTLDs), has just announced the start of the Sunrise Period for 9 new gTLDs, commencing on 29 October 2013.

The following new gTLDs will be rolled out by Donuts:

.CLOTHING

.EQUIPMENT

.LIGHTING

.CAMERA

.GURU

.HOLDINGS

.VENTURES

.VOYAGE

.SINGLES

Until now, there have been fewer than 25 gTLDs, among them .com, .info and .org. In June 2011 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted to end the restriction and the number of gLTDs is now expected to increase to over 1000 in the next few years.

With so many new gTLDs being created, the problem of cyber-squatting is ever-present.  ICANN’s answer to this was to establish a global trade mark clearing system, known as the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), to protect the interests of brand holders. The TMCH serves as a global trade marks repository that allows participating brand owners to take advantage of the sunrise and claims periods offered by the system.Until now, there have been fewer than 25 gTLDs, among them .com, .info and .org. In June 2011 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted to end the restriction and the number of gLTDs is now expected to increase to over 1000 in the next few years.

The Sunrise Period for the new gTLDs will last 60 days. During this period only trade mark holders, who have recorded their rights with the TMCH, will be given the opportunity to register domain names corresponding with their trade marks before the new gLTDs are generally available to the public.

The Sunrise Period is followed by the mandatory Trade Mark Claims Period which must last for a minimum period of 60 days from the start of the general registration. During this period, anyone attempting to register a domain that matches a trade mark that is recorded with the TMCH, will receive a notification from the registry displaying the relevant trade mark information. If the third party goes ahead with the registration of the domain name, the TMCH will send a notice to the trade mark holder advising it of the registration.

For a fee, Donuts will also block a verified trade mark across its new gTLDs.
This universal blocking service, called the domain protected marks list (DPML), will prevent cyber- squatters from registering identical domain names within the Donuts gTLDs.

Whilst we expect cyber-squatting to be rife within the new gTLDs generally, the value of the new gLTDs will differ from one to the next. 

Reinhardt Biermann