29 Rights Protection Mechanisms

Prototypical answer:

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.smartSmart Communications, Inc. (SMART)smart.com.phView

As stated in the Registry’s Mission and Purpose, the .SMART gTLD will serve the needs of SMART including the provisioning of its cellular, wireless broadband, financial, technology solutions, mobile virtual networks and satellite services for the use of its authorized mobile and Internet subscribers.

The .SMART gTLD is for the exclusive use of the company and its subsidiaries, its authorized partners, and its subscribers. Registration in .SMART is not open to the general public. By controlling every registration in the .SMART gTLD, the company will totally eliminate abusive registrations and other activities that affect the legal rights of others. Through its Policy Board, the company will ensure that each domain name registered in the .SMART has at least one of the following characteristics:

• it corresponds to a bona fide offering of goods or services
• it is not intended to mislead or divert consumers away or tarnish the trademark or service mark of any mark-holders
• it corresponds to the name that the company’s subsidiary, authorized partner, or product is commonly known
• it is a generic or a descriptive name which the company has fair use of

Furthermore, the company will comply with the Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) that have been established by ICANN to protect trademark holders from abusive registrations. Each mechanism is listed below:

1. Trademark Clearinghouse
2. Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS)
3. Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP)
4. Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)

This document describes how the .SMART Registry will comply with policies and practices that minimize abusive registrations and other activities that affect the legal rights of others.

1. Trademark Clearinghouse

As a centralized repository of verified data on registered, court-validated word marks or word marks that are protected by statute or treaty, the Clearinghouse is to be used for the Trademark Claims service and the Sunrise Process.

1.1 Trademark Claims service

As a registry for the exclusive use of the company, the registry will not be open to the general public. Only company-related registrants (as defined in the Mission⁄Objective part of the Application) may register domain names in the registry. The Trademark Clearinghouse would be used by the company to be informed of any Trademark claims on prospective domain names as this would impact how the domain names could be used by the company. Should the company decide to continue the registration of a domain name contained in the Clearinghouse Database, company would promptly notify the mark holder(s) of the registration.

1.2. Sunrise service

The objective of the Sunrise service is to allow mark-holders the opportunity to register domain names for their marks ahead of non-mark-holders. However, the purpose of .SMART is to the deliver the company’s goods and services including the provisioning of its cellular, wireless broadband, financial, technology solutions, mobile virtual networks and satellite services for the use of its authorized mobile and Internet subscribers. The registry will not be open to the general public. It doesn’t make sense for the company to allow non-company related entities to register domains in the registry, even if these entities are mark-holders, because that would violate the purpose of the .SMART Registry.

In fact, allowing these mark-holders to register their marks in the .SMART Registry would create the wrong impression that these mark-holders are part of the company, or have a business relationship with the company, or are vetted by the company.

Worse would be to allow a competitor company, COMPETITOR, the mark-holder of the same company name, to register the domain COMPETITOR.SMART as part of the Sunrise service. This would imply to the general public that the company vets for the service of the competitor
company, COMPETITOR.

.SMART is seeking exemption from ICANN from providing this Sunrise service. The company submits that the rights of the mark-holders are amply protected by the Trademark Claims Service.

2. Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS)

Designed as a lighter and quicker relief for trademark holders than the existing UDRP, the remedy that a panel may grant to a complainant is the suspension of a domain name. Within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of a Notice of Complaint from a URS Provider, the company shall restrict all changes to the registration data. The company shall notify the URS Provider immediately upon locking the domain with a “Notice of Lock.” When a URS panel finds a clear-cut case of trademark abuse in a registered domain name, the Registry will comply with a suspension order immediately upon receipt of the Determination. The nameservers for the domain shall be redirected to the informational web page provided by URS Provider.

3. Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP)

The PDDRP is an administrative option for trademark holders to file an objection against a registry whose affirmative conduct in its operation or use of its gTLD is alleged to cause or materially contribute to the infringement of its trademark and thereby harm the trademark holder.

The Registry understands that because it operates a closed company-only registry, the registration of second-level domains may only be done under the control of the company. Thus it has a great responsibility to ensure that the rights of trademark holders are protected. We believe that by ensuring that the company only registers domain names which meet the characteristics itemized in the Introduction, trademark will never be infringed and the respective trademark holders will never be harmed.

Nevertheless, it is possible for the company or its employees to commit mistakes. These unwitting mistakes will be flagged when a complainant notifies the company of its specific concerns and details the specific conduct the complainant believes infringes on the complainant’s trademarks. The company will attempt to resolve these issues by meeting the conferring with the complainant.

4. Uniform Domain Name Dispute ResolutionPolicy (UDRP)

The UDRP is an administrative remedy for for rights-holding complainant to resolve cases of bad-faith, abusive registration of domain names. Should a UDRP panel favor a complainant, the UDRP panel may order the transfer or the cancellation of a domain name. The registrar is obliged to implement this decision.

As a closed registry, only company-affiliated registrants are allowed to register .SMART domain names and only the company-affiliated registrar may register in their behalf. Should a UDRP decision to cancel or transfer a domain name be received, the company registrar must comply with the order except when restrained by a competent court.

We believe that by ensuring that the company only registers domain names which meet the characteristics itemized in the Introduction, rights will never be infringed and the respective trademark holders will never be harmed.

5. Additional Protection Mechanism

The company is committed to protecting the rights of trademark holders in the .SMART gTLD. This is ensured by following the guideline that a domain name may be registered only if it meets at least one of the following criteria:
• it corresponds to a bona fide offering of goods or services
• it is not intended to mislead or divert consumers away or tarnish the trademark or service mark of any mark-holders
• it corresponds to the name that the company’s susbidiary, authorized
partner, or product is commonly known
• it is a generic or a descriptive name which the company has fair use of


These, in addition to the use of the Trademark Clearing House will ensure that the rights of trademark-holders are amply protected pro-actively. In addition to the above RPMs, the company will make available a specific e-mail address, trademarks@smart, to which rights-holder complaints may be addressed. This will be routed to the members of the .SMART Policy Board. The Legal Staff of the Board is specifically tasked to investigate and answer complaints coursed through the e-mail address. This will ensure that mistakes by the Registry are promptly corrected, even without going through the ICANN-mandated RPMs.

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