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ARTICLE · 10 NOVEMBER 2008

Hundreds Of New TLDS Expected In Draft "Streamlined" Internet Naming Policy

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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has released a draft of policies intended to ease the process for parties seeking to create new top-level Internet domains (TLDs).

United StatesIntellectual Property
Foley & Lardner
Foley & Lardner
Craig Fochler
Craig Fochler
Jeffrey Greene
Jeffrey Greene
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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has released a draft of policies intended to ease the process for parties seeking to create new top-level Internet domains (TLDs). New TLD examples might be .SHOES or .SUMMER or a dot followed by a trademark, as in .FOLEY. ICANN is receiving comments on these new policies until December 8, 2008. The final policies should be in place in early 2009, and new TLDs could start appearing online under the "streamlined" procedure by the end of 2009.

What does this mean for trademark owners?

Currently there are approximately 20 generic top-level domains (gTLDs) like .COM, .ORG and .NET, and approximately 250 country-specific top-level domains (ccTLDs) like .RU for Russia and .EG for Egypt. While trademark owners may (and should) already have policies and procedures in place for acquiring domain names and policing new registrations for infringement, with the potential flood of new gTLDs — estimated at 500 in the

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