ICANN Opens Comment Period On Rights Protection Mechanism (RPM) Requirements

ICANN has opened the comment period for  “Rights Protection Mechanism (RPM) Requirements”

The operational requirements for implementation of the Sunrise and Trademark Claims processes in new gTLDs, and a set of community-proposed revisions, are being posted for comment to give an opportunity for the community to review and provide feedback on these requirements.

This revised version of the RPM Requirements reflects updates based on community consultations, and a set of proposals from the community are being posted to allow affected stakeholders to review and provide input.

Public comment will be analyzed and taken into account by ICANN.

To file a public comment you must send an email to:  comments-rpm-requirements-06aug13@icann.org

You will get back an email which you must confirm for your comment to be posted

You can review all received comments here.

The comment period closes on 27 August 2013 – 23:59 UTC

Detailed Information Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose:

ICANN has published both technical requirements and operational requirements for implementation of the Sunrise and Trademark Claims services required in the New gTLD Program. The operational requirements [PDF, 349 KB] were published in draft form on 6 April 2013. A variety of feedback and comment was provided on this draft, including an open consultation [PDF, 216 KB] for interested stakeholders to provide feedback. ICANN has considered the input received and has created a revised version of the RPM Requirements [PDF, 234 KB] that is being published for comment.

A group of community stakeholders including a number of applicants has also engaged with ICANN on some identified issues and has proposed a set of revisions [PDF, 83 KB] for inclusion in the RPM Requirements, to provide greater flexibility and support for certain business objectives.

Section II: Background:

Certain trademark protections were built into the New gTLD Program in accordance with community discussions throughout the development of the program. As specified in the gTLD Applicant Guidebook, all new gTLD registries are required to offer a set of rights protection mechanisms, including a Sunrise period and a Trademark Claims service. These are minimum requirements, to support enhanced trademark protections in the new gTLD space.

The sunrise and trademark claims services have been implemented in accordance with the goal of providing protection for verified legal rights. Registry operators have discretion to implement their TLD startup phases in accordance with their individual business and operational models, so long as the minimum requirements are met.

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