A Fast Moving Target - The New gTLD "Go Live" Date

Although the Trade Mark Clearing House is now open for registration of trade mark holders' rights ( see last update), the proposed 23 April date for the commencement of contracting with the first successfully examined gTLD applicants was not met and this process will now begin in June.  ICANN's newly announced plan is to start pre-delegation testing, to launch the sunrise and trade mark claims systems in the Trade Mark Clearing House and also to commence the Uniform Rapid Suspension system from the beginning of July.  It is therefore possible in theory that the first of the new generic top-level domains (gTLD) could go live as early as August, but considering the delays this remains to be seen.