(sigh) http://domainnamewire.com/2012/04/06/new-tld-trademark-eu/ New gTLD hopefuls play trademark games in EU, too Friday, April 6th, 2012 French lawyer with ICANN, NAF, and WIPO connections helps new TLD applicants file trademarks for prospective top level domains. I've chronicled many of the attempts by new gTLD hopefuls to "frontrun" trademarks for new TLDs in the United States. Here are 115 examples. But that's just in the U.S. system. And it's not a huge threat since the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is rejecting these applications. Yet there's some trademarking activity in the European Union as well. One of the prolific filers is Constantine Roussos, who is behind one of the .music initiatives. Back in 2009 he successfully registered two stylized trademarks for dot music with the Trade Marks and Design Registrations Office of the European Union. He later tried to file a similar one in the U.S. but was rebuffed. While ICANN doesn't care about existing "dot" trademarks, it's possible these trademarks will cause TLDs to get tied up in the courts. In 2010 Roussos commented to ICANN: Rest assured that if we, as .MUSIC are faced with the possibility of being gamed and abused in a manner that we find illegal, we will use our trademarks and other means necessary to do what we have to do to protect ourselves and our respective community. While trademarks alone should not be the sole determinant of earning a TLD, it is the only means we have of protection, since ICANN has not incorporated any mechanisms to prevent TLD applicant abuse, gaming and unfair piggybacking from other initiatives. Now it's not just .music Roussos is after. He has filed 21 additional applications since December 30. They all have stylized logos like these: [....] -- James S. Tyre Law Offices of James S. Tyre 10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512 Culver City, CA 90230-4969 310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax) [log in to unmask] Policy Fellow, Electronic Frontier Foundation https://www.eff.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the Pho mailing list, hosted by griffinatonehousedotcom and johnparresatgmaildotcom. Email one or both of us to unsubscribe, subscribe or otherwise address any issues related to this list. -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org -------------------------------------------------------------- -