Final Week for Trademarks to Purchase .GOP in ‘Sunrise Period’

Washington, D.C. – Today .gop issued a reminder that its Sunrise, priority access period for trademark holders, ends one week from today on June 30, 2014. All businesses, intellectual property owners, news organizations and trademark holders should take a moment to send this information to their legal teams to ensure their marks are protected.

Trevor Little, in his piece in the World Trademark Review, urged businesses, “to consider the string [.gop] when devising their registration strategies, no matter what their political persuasion.” Major companies and trademark holders must understand which of the hundreds of new top level domains will impact their brands to effectively manage their online presences and defend their trademarks.

The .gop team is committed to an environment where all trademark holders are protected and one where cybersquatting is nonexistent throughout the .gop universe. Trademark holders have been given priority access for sixty days to register ahead of the general public in an effort to promote brand protection and transparency. Using the Trademark Clearinghouse’s Sunrise mechanism, trademark holders are able to register their names in .gop and others first, thereby ensuring that nothing falls into the wrong hands (Sunrise period for .gop ends June 30, 2014).

Beyond defensive registration and as digital issues like online privacy and net neutrality continue to dominate the daily discussion, there is opportunity for brands to utilize domains in .gop in creative ways should they choose. Regardless, every trademark owner must strategically monitor which domains will present opportunities or risks to its business and make use of the opportunity to register ahead of the general public. Since new domains are launching each week, the time for brands to act strategically is now.

To purchase a .gop, trademark owners must first register in the Trademark Clearinghouse.

Top Level Registry Inc., which is a subsidiary of The Republican State Leadership Committee, will run the registry for websites ending in .gop.

Comments are closed.