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GAC Advice

The GAC provides advice to the ICANN Board on policy matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN’s policies and various laws, international agreements and public policy objectives. GAC Advice is communicated to the ICANN Board through either a Communique or a formal piece of Correspondence.

2012-06-28-TC

GAC Advice

Reference No. :

2012-06-28-TC

First Delivered via :

N/A

Consenus:

Consensus met

2012-06-28-TC

Communication

In addition to the advice previously communicated to the Board on June 17, 2012:

The GAC advises the Board

    • that there is still important work to be undertaken to finalise the operation of the Trademark Clearinghouse. The GAC therefore requests a status report for its consideration no later than two weeks before the Toronto meeting.

Communication

In addition to the advice previously communicated to the Board on June 17, 2012:

The GAC advises the Board

    • that there is still important work to be undertaken to finalise the operation of the Trademark Clearinghouse. The GAC therefore requests a status report for its consideration no later than two weeks before the Toronto meeting.

GAC Acknowledgement of Register Entry

27 July 2012

Next Steps/Required Action

Status report due to GAC two weeks before the Toronto Meeting

Responsible Party

ICANN

Target Completion Date

1 October 2012

Current Status/Communications Log

Status Report sent to GAC Mailing list on 1 October 2012

For the GAC¹s consideration, please see the attached status report on the implementation of the Trademark Clearinghouse.

The Trademark Clearinghouse is one of several important enhanced rights protection mechanisms that have been built into the New gTLD Program. The Trademark Clearinghouse will accept and authenticate rights information, and will support both trademark claims and sunrise services, required in all new gTLDs. The Clearinghouse is expected to play an important role in the launch of the New gTLD Program and in ensuring ongoing protection of trademark rights.

In its Prague communique, the GAC noted that: The GAC advises the Board Š that there is still important work to be undertaken to finalise the operation of the Trademark Clearinghouse. The GAC therefore requests a status report for its consideration no later than two weeks before the Toronto meeting.

The attached report includes the following:

-- The current draft of the Trademark Clearinghouse requirements. This document details the responsibilities of the Trademark Clearinghouse provider, expanding upon the Clearinghouse Request for Information (RFI) to define the specific requirements of the Clearinghouse at a detailed level. It is informed by the gTLD Applicant Guidebook, as well as inputs from the Implementation Assistance Group (IAG) and other community discussions.

In addition, explanatory memoranda on two subjects are included for
reference.

-- The first, on implementing the ³proof of use² requirement, describes the procedures to be used by the Clearinghouse to verify proof of use
associated with a trademark where requested.
-- The second, on implementing the ³matching rules,² provides a detailed explanation of the requirements outlined in the Applicant Guidebook, for how a 'match' is determined between a trademark record and a domain name, for purposes of the sunrise and claims processes.

These explanatory memoranda are currently posted for public comment at http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/tmch-docs-24sep12-en.htm.

As announced in June 2012, ICANN is working with partners Deloitte and IBM to implement the Clearinghouse validation and database administration services. Additional status information on the implementation of the Trademark Clearinghouse is expected to be presented and discussed during the ICANN meeting in Toronto.

In parallel with the work described in the attached report, ICANN and the providers have been involved in discussions with the community on the technical implementation of sunrise and trademark claims services on the registry side. It is important to note that these latest exchanges might lead to changes in the requirements document attached here as we continue to accept recommendations. More details on these discussions, as well as some alternative technical proposals developed by a group of prospective gTLD operators, are available at
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/about/trademark-clearinghouse.

We hope you find this information helpful and are pleased to answer any additional questions.

MatchingRulesMemo-1oct12[1].pdf

Proof-of-Use-1oct12.pdf

TMC-Requirementsdraft-1oct12.pdf


Board-Response-to-GAC-Prague-Communique_20121013.pdf

Trademark Clearinghouse implementation work is proceeding according to the project plan. While this work continues, ICANN is also listening to community member concerns and questions in order to clarify the roles of registries, registrars and registrants in the new environment. ICANN will provide a status report no later than two weeks before the Toronto meeting.

Board Action (Accept/Disagree)

N/A