How will the rights of trademark holders be protected in the process?
First, an objection-based process will enable rightsholders to demonstrate that a proposed gTLD would infringe their legal rights. Second, applicants for new gTLDs will be required to describe in their applications the rights protection mechanism they propose for second-level registrations, which must be made public. Third, all new gTLDs must ensure that second-level registrations are subject to ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), a process that has worked well to protect rights for many years. Finally, ICANN has been working closely with the trademark community to find additional solutions to potential issues for trademark holders in implementing new gTLDs. There are currently two new trademark protection proposals under consideration. These can be viewed here: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/gnso-consultations-reports-en.
