Sunrise domain name registration[edit]

Trademark holders have first right to register their trademarked terms. Every new gTLD is required to organize a sunrise period of at least 30 days before domain names are offered to the general public. If a company/business or an individual is interested in protecting their brand in the New gTLD era, they should register as trademark holder or trademark agent with Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH).[5] On successful registration, they may submit their trademark records and be eligible for trademark claims notification and/or sunrise services.[6] A brand owner should be aware of the launch of new TLDs to educate himself on the different tactics i.e. defensive registrations, monitoring, blocking or creating a new strategy; registering a mark in the TMCH is the first step.

Trademark claims services[edit]

The trademark claims service follows the sunrise. It is a notification service—mandated by ICANN for all new gTLDs—to warn both domain name registrants as well as trademark holders of possible infringements.[7] If multiple trademark-holders place a request for the same domain name, the registry may put the domain name to an auction, where the highest bidder gets to register the name. A sunrise registration request is essential to take part in the auction.

Sunrise auction[edit]

When two trademark owners both have legitimate claim to a given domain, these domains then go to auction.[8]