Established by ICANN, the Trademark Clearinghouse is a service which verifies the existing trademark information of corporations. The successful completion of this verification process then grants mark owners access to the priority registration phases of each new TLD. Enrollment of marks into the TMCH also results in notifications to mark owners should any future infringing TLD registrations be performed by a third-party.
Designed to defend the rights of brand owners, ICANN created the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) to validate and safeguard the intellectual properties of brand owners. Acting as the authoritative database for all registry operators, the TMCH ensures that validated mark owners receive priority access to each domain name ahead of general availability.
The TMCH protects your brand in two ways
1. The Sunrise Service is an initial period of at least 30 days before registrations in new gTLD domain spaces are offered to the general public. Trademark owners can take advantage of a new gTLD Sunrise period to secure the domain name that matches their trademark under that gTLD. A Sunrise Period is mandatory for all new gTLDs, but only those persons with a verified trademark registered with the TMCH can take advantage of the pre-registration period. Sunrise Phase Successfully enrolled marks in the TMCH receive a Signed Mark Data (SMD) file. The SMD file contains trademark information and is used in conjunction with a Sunrise registration. This grants brand owners access to ALL Sunrise Periods, giving corporations the opportunity to secure their intellectual properties in advance of general availability to the public.
2. Trademark Claims Services. By registering your trademark, not only will you get first preference for the domain names you want, but you will also be notified if a third party applies to register a domain name which matches your trademark.
Claims Notification Services During the first 90 days of a gTLD extension’s general availability, any third-party attempting to register a domain name containing the exact or acceptable match of a TMCH validated mark will be notified of the impending infringement. In the event that the third-party proceeds, a notice is sent to the owner of the registered trademark. The mark owner then has the option of whether or not to take the necessary actions, if deemed necessary. The claims notice will only be provided to trademark owners with a valid submission in the TMCH.
Trademark Clearinghouse FAQs