Posts Tagged ‘trademark domain’

.TEL has Launched!

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

The .TEL Sunrise period officially launched this morning at 7:00am PST. The Sunrise period, which continues until February 2, 2009,  provides trademark holders an opportunity to protect their trademarks.

An important point to remember is that this period (along with .TEL Landrush and General Registration) is on a first come, first served basis. There may be multiple applications for a trademarked domain being submitted, but only the first  will be successful.

A few notes about Sunrise:

  • Trademark application date must be prior to May 30, 2008.
  • Trademark registration date must be prior to December 3, 2008.
  • Applications are considered on a world-wide basis, independently assessed by Deloitte and are awarded on a first come, first served basis.
  • Application fee of US$399 applies for all submitted applications whether successful or not. If the application is successful, Webnames.ca will provide a three year registration (minimum term specified by the registry) of the name at no extra charge.

Register/Prebook your .TEL domain name today with Webnames.ca, an official .TEL registrar.

Will .TEL Deter Cybersquatters?

Monday, November 10th, 2008

The Register.co.uk published an article last week about how .TEL will be unattractive to cybersquatters because it does not host websites, only contact information that will be sent to Internet-enabled devices.

According to Justin Hayward communications director of Telnic, the registry behind .TEL, “Much cybersquatting is done by companies which earn money from adverts displayed on the pages belonging to domain names which users assume will belong to a famous organisation. That kind of cybersquatting will not work on .TEL domain names”.

While pay-per-click ads technically may not work on a .TEL domain, thereby preventing a cybersquatter from generating revenue off a domain that makes use of another entity’s mark or brand, it doesn’t mean cybersquatters won’t be hot-to-trot when it comes to registering .TEL domains.

It seems to me that if a cybersquatter had malicious intentions or wanted to hijack traffic, customers or prospects, .TEL would fit the bill perfectly. .TEL would enable a cybersquatter to input information of their own choosing in the contact fields, and redirect a visitor to whatever website, phone number or email address they wish. There is serious potential for a company’s brand and to be compromised.

What do you think? Leave us some feedback and let us know.

Click here to view an example of what a  .TEL website will look like.