Imminent Enforcement Deadlines In The New gTLD Program

As you may be aware, a thousand or more new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) may become open for registration on the Internet beginning as early as mid-2013.  With the availability of new gTLDs now an impending reality, all organizations should be giving careful consideration to how they will adapt their online enforcement strategies and otherwise prepare for the new landscape.

Overview

At this juncture, organizations may still have some opportunities to influence which new gTLDs are delegated (top-level enforcement), although the windows for these opportunities are rapidly closing.  In addition, as the number of spaces in which to register second-level domains will likely increase exponentially over the next few years, all organizations, whether or not they are otherwise participating in the new gTLD program, will need to determine how to expand their domain name portfolios with defensive registrations and how they will utilize other rights protection mechanisms