Internetworld.de, interviewed Dirk Krischenowski of .Berlin who blasted ICANN and the performance of the Trademark Clearing House (TMCH)
The article was published in German and we used Google translate.
Dirk chatted with the German publication about the recently completed Sunrise period for .Berlin, which is now in available to be registered.
In the Sunrise Period trademark owner could register .Berlin domains with their trademark on the left of the dot.
As most know to be allowed to file a Sunrise application you have to registered the mark with the TMCH.
Here are some of the more interesting quotes from the article:
On the TMCH; “What sounds so nice in theory, has hardly worked in practice , says Dirk Krischenowski , managing director of the company dotBerlin that manages these new top -level domain.”
“On 16 March was the sunrise phase of dotBerlin to an end. How many brand owners have taken advantage of the opportunity to present to the nature of their brand. Secure berlin ?
Dirk Krischenowski :
“Not many .
By the end of the Sunrise period nearly 200 branded domains have been registered , mostly from internet groups from the United States .
At the German brand owners the Sunrise phase is mostly gone .”
How do you explain the reluctance ?
Krischenowski : Many brand owners do not know the procedure.
“ICANN is not communicative able to convey the process globally.”
“The Trademark Clearinghouse is therefore largely failed. In the corresponding database about 27,000 brands worldwide are registered , of which only about a thousand from Germany.”
The have made only the very large companies mainly in Germany and worldwide .
In addition, many trademark attorneys have the brand owners discouraged from registration in the Trademark Clearinghouse , also because they earn more later with lawsuits.”
I would have to agree that ICANN has not adequately informed the Brand-owning community of the opening of Sunrise Periods. However, I disagree that TMCH has failed — it is simply that most brand owners will be very selective in which .TLDs they will register their trademarks to be defensive, and perhaps .BERLIN — which is, after all, a geographic designator and not a generic product/service — is simply not a TLD in which they have great interest or concern.
I also strongly disagree with Mr. Krischenowski’s statement that “many trademark attorneys have the brand owners discouraged from registration in the Trademark Clearinghouse, also because they earn more later with lawsuits.” Although he is correct that law firms stand to make more from handling trademark lawsuits and inter-partes disputes than by assisting in the registration of trademarks as domains in TLDs, I know of no information or study that would support his claim that they are discouraging use of Sunrise in order to gain more money in litigation representation. Most law firms know that the way they keep clients is by helping them not only enforce their rights, but by doing so economically. This is simply a statement not supported by fact.
do you really need a study to prove that lawyers are fond of money
Funny, I find it was a success