Radio Global Domains First to Use Trademark Clearinghouse
Online, April 6, 2013 (Newswire.com) - TM.Biz announces it has been selected by BRS Media to manage their up-coming trademark Sunrise Period for the Radio.am and Radio.fm Global Domains. The May 28 Sunrise Period for the Radio.am and Radio.fm Global Domains represents the first time that ICANN's Trademark Clearinghouse, absent any further delays, is expected to be used to protect trademarks in new top-level domain names.
"We wanted to make sure trademark owners were protected prior to the launch of our new extensions for the Radio industry," says George Bundy of BRS Media. "TM.Biz is offering our registry and registrars a one-stop process for validating and submitting Sunrise registrations without any extra programming required."
BRS Media made their formal announcement this past week-end in Las Vegas, NV where they are in attendance and co-sponsoring the Radio and Internet Newsletter (RAIN) Summit West 2013 Conference, at the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The RAIN Summit is a Co-Located Event of the NAB Show in Las Vegas, the world's largest electronic media show.
As Sunrise Manager for the Radio Global Domains, TM.Biz will validate both trademark applications as well as Signed-Mark-Data (SMD) files from ICANN's Trademark Clearinghouse, which opened for business on March 26 and is expected to be capable of issuing SMD files well before the Radio Sunrise Period begins.
ICANN has received more than 1,900 applications for new TLDs; the first new TLD is expected to be recommended by ICANN on April 23, with hundreds more expected in the coming months. All of these new TLDs are mandated to offer pre-launch Sunrise and Claims phases for trademark owners. The trademark clearinghouse was created as a repository for these new launch phases.
"When BRS Media asked us to operate their Sunrise Period, we immediately recognized the benefit of leveraging the trademark clearinghouse to lower costs for trademark owners," says Tom Barrett of TM.Biz. "Absent any further delays of the Trademark Clearinghouse, we expect the launch of Radio.am and Radio.fm to represent the first use of the Trademark Clearinghouse by any Global Domain."
Since ICANN Registrars are not likely to be operationally ready by May 28 to support the new Sunrise process required for new TLDs, TM.Biz will serve as the overall Sunrise Manager and will send approved Sunrise registrations directly to the Radio Registry, thereby eliminating any extra programming efforts for Registrars to participate in the Radio Sunrise Period.
The Radio Sunrise Project follows the successful completion by TM.Biz of the recent .PW Sunrise Project, where TM.Biz served as trademark validation agent.
"Running a TLD Sunrise Period requires trademark expertise that few in the industry have," said Sandeep Ramchandani, business head at the Directi Group, a group of businesses that develop mass-market Web products. "TM.Biz was able to save us time and money by quickly customizing their trademark validation software to fit the needs of our .PW Sunrise Period."
Many of the new Registries are planning additional checks and restrictions that will not be included in the services offered by the trademark clearinghouse, such as more complex trademark validation and user verification for a specific community or special-interest group. TM.Biz is poised to help satisfy this need for new TLDs as well as existing TLDs.