The “.商标” Generic Top-Level Domain (Meaning “.trademark” in Simplified Chinese;
Pronounced: Shang Biao) is a Chinese IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) that
is the first-ever domain extension to explicitly and accurately express a
trademark holder’s rights online through a domain name, the core identifier of
businesses, organizations and individuals on the Internet.
Unique to the
“.商标” domain extension, registrants of “.商标” domains are required to provide proof of
their registered trademark or trademark application, as well as their business
incorporation certificate, in order to successfully register domains.
Furthermore, the naming requirements for every “.商标” domain registration must represent an exact match to a registered
trademark or trademark application, thus guaranteeing that all domains
registered with the “.商标” Domain Registry are owned by legitimate
trademark holders.
It is not
required that the trademark submitted as proof be registered in China, nor is
the prefix of the domain name required to be in Chinese. The “.商标” domain registry recognizes trademarks from over 200 jurisdictions
worldwide and enables global trademark owners to register domain names in
English as well as Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Therefore, trademark
owners are able to register “.商标” domains to protect and promote their
brands even if they do not yet have Chinese trademark or existing business
operations or interests in China.
The “.商标” domain is predicated on
helping trademark owners to extend the legal rights and promotional power of
their trademarks to the Chinese-speaking online population. Trademarks have
evolved over the past two hundred years from basic text & graphic to modern
representations of a brand’s intellectual property including sound and even
smell. Yet even after 20 years of evolution of the internet, there still
remains much uncertainty and vagueness around online trademark rights and
protection. The “.商标” domain takes the next step in trademark evolution
essentially representing an within a domain name, still the first touch point
between businesses and the online population. A “.商标” domain is trademark
holders’ online gateway into the Chinese marketplace.
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