ICANN’s Trademarks Clearinghouse Opens For Business

With the launch of the Trademarks Clearinghouse, brand owners can now stake their territory In the brave new world of expanded generic top level domain names ("gTLD's").  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"), the non-profit organization that manages and coordinates the system of domain names and IP addresses used on the internet, has put into operation what it calls "the most important rights protection mechanism built into ICANN's new gTLD program".

The Trademarks Clearinghouse ("Clearinghouse"), which is operated by Deloitte and IBM, is a centralized database of information submitted by brand owners that will be used by the ultimate operators of the new gTLD's as part of their process of trying to avoid the infringement of trademark rights through the domain names applied for under their gTLD.  Through the Clearinghouse, ICANN  is attempting to address brand owners' concerns about the increased risk of cybersquatting that comes with