ASIA ANNOUNCES SUNRISE PERIOD FOR TRADEMARK OWNERS
by Tamera H. Bennett April 5, 2007
If you or your clients are doing business in Asia or targeting this market, get ready to file your new dotASIA top level domain name registrations.
The March/April 2007 Verisign Branding Bulletin states:
The Phase II Sunrise Period will have three stages:
Reserved for trademarks applied for before March 16, 2004 and registered at the time of the domain name application.
Reserved for trademarks applied before December 6, 2006 and registered at the time of the domain name application.
Reserved for trademarks applied for during phases "a" and "b" with the actual class description. For example, Trademark ABC registered under a class for chemical goods could apply for the domain name “ABCchemicals.asia.” More than one application will be possible based on the number of classes in which a given trademark is registered.
Although all requirements for showing proof of ownership of a registered trademark have not been nailed down, it is clear that in order to secure a dotASIA domain, the domain holder must have a "presence" in one of the 73 countries identified by ICANN as part of the Asia/Pacific region. It is anybody's guess how "presence" will be defined and how this requirement will be enforced.
Learn more: .ASIA registration services
