How does registering trademarks within the Clearinghouse protect companies' brands?

Registering trademarks within the Clearinghouse will help companies protect their brands through our two proactive services: the Sunrise Service and Trademark Claims Service.

1. Sunrise is an initial period of at least 30 days before domain names are offered to the general public. Trademark owners can take advantage of the Sunrise period to safeguard the domain name that matches their trademark. A Sunrise Period is mandatory for all new gTLDs and having a validated trademark entry in the Clearinghouse is the minimum requirement to participate in this limited pre-registration period.

2. The Trademark Claims period is followed by the Sunrise period. It is a notification service, mandated by ICANN for all new gTLDs, to warn both domain name registrants as well as trademark owners of possible infringements.

The service works as follows:

Potential domain name registrants receive a warning notice when attempting to register a domain name that matches a trademark in the TMCH.

If, after receiving and accepting the notice, the domain name registrant does continue to register the domain name, the trademark holder with a corresponding mark will receive notification of the domain name registration, so they can take any appropriate action if should they so desire.