ARTICLE · 08 APRIL 2013

Protecting Trade-Marks In The New gTLDs

Heenan Blaikie LLP

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Trade-mark owners should act now to protect their trade-mark rights online.

CanadaIntellectual Property

Trade-mark owners should act now to protect their trade-mark rights online.

As early as April 2013, new top level domain names.

As early as April 2013, new top level domain names ("gTLDs") will be available. New domain names will no longer be limited to names ending in .COM and .CA. The proposed new gTLDs include everything from .AAA (applied for by the American Automobile Association) to .ZULU (applied for by Top Level Domain Holdings Limited and intended to serve the Zulu nation). There are also numerous applications for new gTLDs that do not use Latin characters.

The new gTLDs create potential opportunities for trade-mark owners to expand the use of their brands on the Internet. They also exponentially increase the risks of trade-mark infringement across many of the new gTLDs.

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