Trademarks identify a particular product or service and enable consumers to quickly identify the source of a given good. In order to meet this function they must be distinctive. Trademark law protects the owner’s right to use the trademark exclusively and prevent others using a mark that is confusingly similar. Use of an identical mark on the same product would be considered confusing and could clearly constitute infringement. So far so good. But are you aware that the same standards exis... Read More
Trademark bullying? The Glencoe story
Glencoe is an “unforgettable place of dramatic mountains, rare beauty and haunting history” in the Scottish Highlands. It is also a UK trademark, registered by several companies including The National Trust for Scotland. NTS’s 2016 trademark is registered for goods including beauty products, jewellery and clothing. A prior UK Glencoe mark protecting articles of clothing was registered in 1996 by Glenmuir Limited, a “family-run business dedicated to producing the finest golf wear” but it does no... Read More
.BRAND: The importance of the digital strategy, or the McDonald’s case
McDonald’s! The symbol of globalization: from the invention of the express service by the eponymous brothers to its successful franchise by Ray Kroc (I recommend the film ‘The Funder’), McDonald’s is an example of post-war entrepreneurial success. The BigMac, the Filet o’Fish? These are the inventions of franchisees that headquarters have agreed to develop throughout the world. A model of innovation. What about their digital strategy? When Internet arrives and everyone talks ab... Read More
A much awaited first report on DNS abuse in the new extensions
While the fate of 25 not yet delegated new extensions remains to seal, which represents approximately 2 % of all the accepted extensions during the current opening round, ICANN has just published a study on the proportion of DNS abuse in the new extensions launched after 2012. The study was requested by the Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team ( CCTRT), which is mandated by ICANN to examine the extent to which the introduction or expansion of generic extensions ... Read More
Some movement in the SSL’s world: Digicert acquires Symantec’s certificates activity
On Wednesday, August 2nd, Digicert announced the acquisition of Symantec’s Website Security Business branch (including SSL business, and some other services). It’s the direct consequence of the conflict opposing Symantec to Google for a few months. You have certainly already heard about this disagreement opposing two companies on a certain number of certificates issued by Symantec and the possible loss of trust towards these certificates in the next versions of Chrome. Many information and dat... Read More
.BRAND : 4 episodes, for this summer
Act 3: Depression Five years ago, the number of domain name extensions was alright: less than 500. It was still possible to register its trademark and its company’s name in the extension of its choice and to act against fraudulent deposits. Attacks were unusual and you defended yourselves when smart little ones made contentious deposits. Some extensions only accepted subdomains registrations, such as Australia and the United Kingdom. Impossible to save at the root and impossible to regi... Read More
Have you heard of Esperancia?
Surely, you have already noticed the Esperancia logo in the email signature of your Nameshield partner. But do you know how it works? Esperancia is an endowment fund with an innovative and ingenious concept: the search for long lasting funding. This system ensures to maintain its purpose: a long-term action to the associations it supports. If Esperancia owns 15% of our company’s shares, Nameshield also transfers 1% of its annual revenue to Esperancia. Therefore, as a Nameshield customer... Read More
.BRAND : 4 episodes, for this summer
Act 2: Expression We left off on the time when the brands did not feel the Internet revolution, the techniques evolving and the registered domain names. (Read act 1: Denial (and anger)) The example of McDonald’s is interesting. In 1994, Wired, an American magazine created a year earlier, communicates about the case of mcdonalds.com. Joshua Quittner, a journalist at Newsday, contacted McDonald’s and asked if they would be interested in registering mcdonalds.com. There was litt... Read More
The acquisition of Rightside Group by Donuts becomes a reality
It’s at mid-July that ICANN has given its consent regarding the merge of Rightside Group, the registry behind the 40 new gTLDs (.ATTORNEY, .NINJA, .PUB, .DENTIST, .NEWS, .ROCKS, .LIVE, etc.) and the other well-known registry in the new gTLDs’ world, Donuts Inc (more than 200 TLDs: .LIFE, .LOANS, .MEDIA, .SOLUTIONS, .WORLD, etc.). Donuts will then acquire Rightside at the price of 10.60$ per action, in the context of a takeover offer, i.e. an operation of approximatively 213 million in total. Do... Read More
Black July for the .xyz
The volume leader of the new gTLDs has seen its zone file cut by more than half. While it started its July month with more than 5.2 million of registered domain names in its zone, it had only 2.5 million on Monday 17, letting the .top get its way back to the top in the meantime. How to explain such a phenomenon? First of all, the multigenerational extension doesn’t escape the non-renewal law. A year after having massively registered at the derisory price of 0.01$ or even received for free their... Read More
