From new domain names to 3-D printers, developments in technology and elsewhere pose new challenges for trademark owners and their lawyers. Here are 10 issues that trademark attorneys can’t afford to ignore in 2013:
Domain Name Explosion: This year generic top-level domain names are poised to increase exponentially, from the 22 that include .com, .biz, and many country-specific domains to almost any word in almost any language. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) received 1,930 applications to establish new domain names before its June 2012 deadline. Trademark owners will want to record key marks with ICANN’s new Trademark Clearinghouse, says Sally Abel, an intellectual property partner at Fenwick & West. That will help them block other domain-name applicants from registering their marks and give them priority on domains matching their marks during various sunrise periods, she says.
