Google has added another domain name to its growing Alphabet brand, this time Alphabet.sex which got registered yesterday.
But Google registering another Alphabet domain name is not the story.
The issue is how did Google get that domain name registered in Sunrise when to register a domain name in any new gTLD Sunrise period the registrant has to have a registered trademark for the term and then apply to the Trademark Clearinghouse before being able to register a new gTLD domain in the Sunrise period.
I don’t see where Google even applied for a trademark on the term Alphabet in the USPTO and you would think that any application would be met with an objection from BMW which does hold a trademark on the term Alphabet and owns Alphabet.com which would drag on at least a year until the term would become actually a registered trademark.
Only terms which have a registered trademark, can be registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse and only trademarks registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse can be registered during the Sunrise period for a new gTLD including .Sex domain names.
So the issue is how was Google able to apply for Alphabet.sex?
While ICM the registry behind .XXX, .porn, .Adult and .Sex has a matching program for .xxx holders for .sex domain names starting after Sunrise, Google does not own the domain name Alphabet.xxx, that was registered in 2014 by someone in the great state of New Jersey and for the record Google does not known Alphabet.porn which was registered on August 10th by someone in Arizona.
However here is the domain registration for Alphabet.sex:
Domain Name:ALPHABET.SEX
Creation Date: 2015-09-04T23:31:12Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2016-09-04T23:31:12Z
Sponsoring Registrar:MarkMonitor Inc. (R3226-AGRS)
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 292
Domain Status: serverTransferProhibited — http://www.icann.org/epp#serverTransferProhibited
Domain Status: addPeriod — http://www.icann.org/epp#addPeriod
Registrant Name:DNS Admin
Registrant Organization:Google Inc.
Registrant Street: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Registrant City:Mountain View
Registrant State/Province:CA
Registrant Postal Code:94043
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.6502530000
Registrant Fax: +1.6502530001
Registrant Email:dns-admin@google.com
Admin Name:DNS Admin
Admin Organization:Google Inc.
Admin Street: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Admin City:Mountain View
Admin State/Province:CA
Admin Postal Code:94043
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.6502530000
Admin Fax: +1.6502530001
Admin Email:dns-admin@google.com
Tech Name:DNS Admin
Tech Organization:Google Inc.
Tech Street: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Tech City:Mountain View
Tech State/Province:CA
Tech Postal Code:94043
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.6502530000
Tech Fax: +1.6502530001
Tech Email:dns-admin@google.com
Name Server:NS1.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server:NS2.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server:NS4.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server:NS3.GOOGLE.COM
There were another 141 domain names registered in Sunrise for .Sex yesterday bringing the total up to 854 domain names.
The Sunrise period for .Sex closes on October 1st.
Tomorrow marked another day where generic words were registered in Sunrise including:
Lucky.sex
Rich.sex
Seek.sex
Teller.sex
Wipeout,Sex
WTC.sex
Other brands registering .Sex domain names yesterday included Citibank, McDonalds, Ralph Lauren, Phillips, Lego, the car maker Jaguar, The NBA team the Brooklyn Nets which registered Nets.sex, the most famous team in all the world Manchester United registered ManchesterUnited.sex, ManUnited.sex and Manutd.sex, Goodwill, and Fosters.
Why would Google even want alphabet.sex anyway? Every Alphabet-related acquisition other than alphabet.xyz just seems like a waste of time and money for them.
Hopefully the will buy mine too: abcalphabetxyz.com
Good for SEO with all keywords (and it is dot com, hehe)
Just couldn’t resist sharing this one!
Cybersquatter. Idiot.
Cybersquatting aside, that’s one ugly domain! ?
A better related domain is, alpha-bet.co (with a hyphen in between).
Peter
That is a different question altogether.. I want to know how they could have registered this domain in Sunrise
Perhaps the answer is similar to how 1-800-Flowers-com Inc managed to acquire the domain name “flowers.delivery” in the .delivery sunrise. I am informed that the registrant has an entry in the TMCH database for “flowers”. Unfortunately it isn’t possible for us to check the TMCH database to find out more the supposed entry so I am unable to establish how they achieved this. My suspicion is the substance of such entries will be minimal, possibly just enough to satisfy TMCH entry requirements. I checked the Benelux trade mark database but came across nothing of value. Perhaps look at any other alternatives.
Incidentally I just noticed that 1-800-Flowers-com Inc *do* have a trade mark on “flowers”. It’s registered in the Benelux region in classes 04 08 09 20 21 22 24 28 29 30 36 38 42, mark number 0776084, and has existed since 2005. This is the registration that likely assisted them in acquiring “flowers.delivery” during the .delivery sunrise period, a domain name some might presume should be generic.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Google have purchased an existing trade mark, perhaps in the Benelux, for the term “alphabet”. If they have done this I haven’t yet located it.
Perhaps, Google is trying to protect Alphabet.
It’s a very good question. I get offered the option to register some of my brands in the sunrise period, but if I understand correctly that’s only from being in a position of controlling the trademark and/or the dot com, and by all appearances they would have neither in this case…unless some other deals have put in place that aren’t public as of yet? Or could it be that G is in their registry already with Alphabet/something and got offered a chance to preregister? If I had to guess, I’d guess some deals likely not made public yet have happened on some of the other names to put them in this position.
I assume Google found some small Alphabet trademark holder somewhere out of the United States and they have purchased the mark rights, instantly submitted the mark to TMCH (it takes just minutes) and have registered the domain name after that. Who cares what category of products and/or services the mark is registered for? This way, Google didn’t have to deal with objections of 3rd parties and mainly they got it fast.
Well basically it should be remembered that Google is all about search. That’s why I got AlphabetSearch.xyz
Yes, Google is about search, but not Alphabet.
All I can say is that we shall see. 🙂 My sister and I were part of the Google dutch auction back in the day. 🙂
Here you go:
ALPHABET
(210)/(260)Application number VA 2015 02022
(220)Application date 2015-08-19
Trade mark office Denmark – DKPTO
(190)Registration office DK
(111)Registration number VR 2015 01940
(151)Registration date 2015-08-24
(141)Expiry date 2025-08-24
(550)Trade mark type Word
(551)Kind of mark Individual
(511)Nice classification 35,36
Current trade mark status Application accepted
Status date 2015-08-24
(511)Nice class number 35
List of goods and services Holdingselskabsydelser, nemlig tilvejebringelse af forretningsledelsesydelser og forretningsadministrationsydelser til datterselskaber og koncernforbundne selskaber, forretningsmæssig ledelse af opkøbte virksomheder og strategiske forretningsinteresser for datterselskaber og koncernforbundne selskaber.
(511)Nice class number 36
List of goods and services Holdingselskabsydelser, nemlig finansielle og investeringsydelser for datterselskaber og koncernforbundne selskaber, tjenesteydelser i forbindelse med virksomhedsaktiekapital.
[from Google Translate]
List of goods and services Holding company services , namely providing business management services and business administration services to subsidiaries and affiliated companies, commercial management of acquired companies and strategic business interests in subsidiaries and affiliates .
( 511 ) Nice class number 36
List of goods and services Holding company services , namely, financial and investment services for its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, services related to the company ‘s share capital.
—
Applicant identifier 00072531918
Name Alphabet Inc.
Address country US
Address 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
94043 Mountain View, California
USA
Thanks Thomas. The status of that Danish trade mark appears to be “Application Accepted” as of 24th August 2015, five days after the application was submitted. According to https://comlaude.com/news/common-errors-and-issues-be-aware-trademark-clearinghouse-0 only trade marks that have been granted can be submitted to the TMCH. Clearly that trade mark has yet to be granted given it was only submitted recently, therefore I am not sure that this application would have had any bearing on the alphabet.sex sunrise registration.
You forget that the people running the TMCH are idiots. They allow graphical marks with disclaimers of the textual content, and all kinds of nonsense. There are jurisdictions in which registration is practically automatic.
Thanks John. I’d got as far as finding the following on the TMCH web site:
“Are applied for trademarks accepted in the Clearinghouse?”
“No, trademarks which are currently under application will not be accepted in the Clearinghouse. You can find more information about the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines.”
Quite clearly one can benefit from having knowledge of a great many trade mark jurisdictions, particularly the ones that you imply allow for near automatic registration.
Great job pointing this out Mr. Berkens.. Shine the spotlight on things like this.
These people can do what they want. side deals. to easy to figure this out.
This gtld game is rigged. Registrars now holding drops and then selling them at auction to me is Monopoly.
Thank you for putting out such quality information.
In my TM searches I frequently come across “Generic”
“Common” words or phrases used in several different
ways. My assumption would be each “holder” would
have “rights” and like the current Registry policies
it comes down to which one is willing to pay the most.
All of the other similar “holders” can now truly rest easy
that their “similar” mark will not be used for purposes
they would not care to be associated with. The caveat
for them is They didn’t have to pay for it ! It also relieves
them of any future litigation costs!
Registry’s that pump out adult theme extensions, have an
intrinsic obligation to delete any combination of strings
that would be materially not only offensive but damaging
to any individual or company regardless of trademark
status. In the case of ABC or alphabet, the entire community
should be outraged that any association with adult theme sites
using terms most closely associated with CHILDREN is available
for a price.
Thank you again for your great service
Regards,
Cindy
Yea, rubs me the wrong way too. This is one case that Google should keep that domain since they own it out of the search.
Tom
So you go to a jurisdiction that no one follows that will give you a TM ASAP without notice to other TM holder than you file it in the TMCH and you get a domain.
Great system they have set up here which is why I see generic words like “the” “cool” “Hot” “hotel” & “hotels & hundreds of others in the TMCH
SO the system that was suppose to protect globally recognized TM Like Google & Verizon BankofAmerica got played and gamed and is a total joke
Mucho Gratis ICANN
New gTLD Program is ICANN’s money cow that allows and supports cybersquatting. Registries make money on it as well, and they all know that domainers and cybersquatters are behind 95+% of their income.
But you already know that, Michael, so why you act so surprised?
About ten years ago several companies appeared to “play the system” by incorporating in Cyprus and registering Benelux trade marks in order to successfully apply for .eu domain names during the sunrise period for that gTLD. The Benelux has an accelerated process which allows registrations to be examined and granted within a matter of days although caveats apply. Their standard process is to grant or deny within six months, I believe. This is still far less time than it takes in the US. Systems differ globally and those aware of this can possibly take advantage of differences. I am absolutely certain ICANN would have been aware of this.
The TMCH isn’t only for those with US granted trade marks and why would it be? If you own a trade mark and/or wish to monitor applications for new trade marks matching your own or your brand, made either locally or globally by others, paid services exist to do just that.
The Danish trade mark that Tom has cited for “alphabet” hasn’t yet been granted therefore I am currently of the belief, based on information I have cited, that it couldn’t be added to the TMCH at the moment. It seems far more likely that Google may have purchased an existing (i.e. already granted) trade mark from someone else and used that. It wouldn’t matter what category such a trade mark was registered within because the sole reason for acquiring it would be to successfully apply for sunrise domain names containing “alphabet” as an exact term.
look up Ontario’s …
Have done, thanks. 🙂 1742145 is the application number. TM filed for and is under examination but yet to be granted. I cannot believe this would permit a successful TMCH registration or everyone would be filing for bogus TM’s to gain TMCH entry, regardless of whether the TM applications were eventually successful.
The status of the Danish trade mark for the term “alphabet” is [i]Foreløbig registreret[/i] (preliminary registered). BMW’s own trade marks for the same term have the status [i]Endelig gyldig[/i] (finally valid). Is there any reason to believe that a preliminarily registered trade mark can be added to the TMCH database?
Registries have full access to record details in TMCH. I’m sure Michael Berkens has several friends with such access, so it shouldn’t be a problem for him to find out what exactly has happened.
The TMCH doesn’t follow the rules you think they do.
The person from Mark Monitor submitting the application to the TMCH has probably submitted a thousand of them by now and is able to influence the TMDB verification staff. Especially with a name like Google behind it, that was probably enough to get the TMDB verified with the status preliminarily registered. Question then is how did it get Registered in the name of Google Inc when the trademark is owned by Alphabet Inc. I would think they have registered the TM in another jurisdiction that is quicker and easier than DK.
Or…
ICM gave it to Google as one of their 100 reserved names for whatever reason. Who knows, maybe Google is going into porn search under their new corporate brand.
The simple answer it is google what company is going to knock back google , gets great press for there extentions worth millions alone look at .xyz and the press they got so any extentions would be glad to accommodate google just to make them stand out which in terms makes sales just good business
Funny .I registered this domain with 101doman about 2 weeks ago,still processing they say .
Told them to cancel it and refund
Domain Registration: ALPHABET.SEX – 1 Year
Discount
Setup Fee
0.00 USD
Recurring Fee
79.00 USD
Item Total
79.00 USD
ICANN Fee – 1 Year
Discount
Setup Fee
0.00 USD
Recurring Fee
0.18 USD
Item Total
0.18 USD
Sub Totals
79.18 USD
Tax
0.00 USD
Total
79.18 USD
Paid
(79.18 USD)
Grand Total Due
0.00 USD
In the world where a nonsense is prevailing, it is no use trying to find a sense. I don’t think it is the sensible world where banks and schools are eager to own porn names.
John
The one who runs the TMCH are IBM and Deloitte right ?
not Moe, Larry and Curly
Do you think that those two mere corporate names somehow imply excellence, or even competence, at everything their employees do? The people running the TMCH are either not very bright, or simply don’t care. The TMCH is easily gamed.
John
Just pointing it out to those that may not know who is running the TMCH