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As I noted in Gutsy
New Web Extensions Could Be Very Lucrative!, the financial benefits
of registering domain names under these suffixes far outweighs the
cost of the registration. With the explosion of renegade new registries
creating their own extensions, owners must seriously consider protecting
their domain names.
Multiple independently operated registries for
the same top-level domain extensions now exist, without a central
registry management infrastructure for these new suffixes. Andy
Patruzio of Wired News has identified three such independent
registrars: New.net,
Domain Name systems, and ICM Registry.
This phenomenon does not have a counterpart in
the physical world. In the present chaotic environment different
entities can own and operate the same cyber real estate domain name,
for example: sex.xxx. Outside of cyberspace in real estate ownership
disputes, two separate buildings cannot occupy the same physical
space. Not true in the domain name world!
Until the dust settles as to who is the 'legitimate'
custodian of the registry, owners need to protect their intellectual
property associated with their domain name.
Keep in mind that owning a domain name doesn't
automatically confer ownership of any intellectual property associated
with the name. To qualify as a protectable trademark, a domain name
must be used in commerce. Thus, being first to register a domain
name is not enough. Owners need to have independent evidence that
their domain name was active as of a certain date.
TM-it,
the guardian of the Whose-TM database, has the safeguard solution.
By adding your domain name to the database, two pieces of information
are automatically recorded: (1) the time that a domain name was
submitted to the database; and (2) if there was an active Website
associated with the domain at the time of submission. In the event
of an ownership dispute, this information is extremely valuable
as evidence of domain name ownership.
One of the major advantages of the TM-it.com solution is the substantial cost savings in legal fees. Ultimately
there can be only one sex.xxx. DomainMart recognizes that domain
owners need protection. DomainMart is currently adding TM-it verification
to their domain name registration process |