If you are a business and you want a .biz name, you can submit a claim to the Intellectual Property Claim Service which opened yesterday on the site of the ICANN-appointed .biz registrar, Neulevel.
Businesses can submit details which serve to notify others of their interests in a character string in which they claim intellectual property rights. The details requested include the status of the rights – e.g. whether they are based on trade mark registration or application with any national trademark office - or based on common law rights.
However, filing an “IP Claim” does not mean the business get a .biz name – it still has to file an application.
OUT-LAW’s John Salmon, said:
“This is the first introduction of new domain names since the current ‘.com’, ‘.org’ and ‘.net’ became operational over a decade ago. There is a lot of interest in the new names, particularly among businesses that missed out on securing a good '.com' name, but the initial steps for claiming a '.biz' name are not as simple as they could be.
“You can’t actually buy a .biz name from today. Instead, you pay a fee – which has yet to be confirmed – to declare your rights to a name. The Claim Service will only consider exact matches to trade marks - so registrations for hyphenated words or misspellings appear to escape the purpose of the Claim Service, which may be considered too restrictive.”
At present, the site says: ‘There will be a fee for filing each IP Claim. Pricing will be available shortly.’
The Claim Service is meant to warn off cybersquatters and others interested in the name before they apply for the same name. The IP Claims Service is only open until 9th July. From July, according to the NeuLevel site, businesses can submit their applications for the ‘.biz’ names with proof of their right to the names. Applications conflicting with those noted with the IP Claim Service will be referred to a form of dispute resolution. In October, the names are meant to become operational.
From July, ‘.info’ will also be available and unlike ‘.biz,’ which can only be sought for commercial or business purposes, there will be no restrictions on who applies, although trade mark owners get 30 days from late June to stake their claim before the names go on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
Salmon added:
“We would urge any company that relies on the exclusivity of its registered domain name to consider registering these domains. There are two reasons. One is cybersquatters –they could register a name, knowing you want it, and you then have the hassle and expense of getting it back. But what is more dangerous is someone else with legitimate claims to the .biz or .info name you want getting in there first if you ignore these advance steps for trade mark owners.”