The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center has been appointed by ICANN as the exclusive provider of dispute resolution services for trademark based “pre-delegation” Legal Rights Objections under ICANN’s New gTLD Program. This service will resolve disputes between applicants and third party trade mark owners who feel their trademark is infringed upon by the TLD applicant.
As provided for in the ICANN Applicant Guidebook, the independent panel will determine whether the potential use of the applied-for gTLD by the applicant:
- takes unfair advantage of the distinctive character or the reputation of the objector’s registered or unregistered trademark or service mark (“mark”) or IGO name or acronym, or
- unjustifiably impairs the distinctive character or the reputation of the objector’s mark or IGO name or acronym, or
- otherwise creates an impermissible likelihood of confusion between the applied-for gTLD and the objector’s mark or IGO name or acronym.
The program will be in effect after the list of applications has been published (beginning of May 2012) until about the end of 2012. Cost for the procedure of at least 10.000 USD is to be carried by each the applicant and the complaning party.