Zone ". RF", and how not to lose money on it

In April 2010, the domain zone “.” will be launched. This ambiguous phenomenon can be treated differently. In blogs and forums, on the pages of the media, battles on the topic of convenience and expediency of this innovation do not subside. Some consider the creation of a new domain zone a whim of the authorities obsessed with leaven patriotism, others focus on technical difficulties.

One way or another, the introduction of the domain zone “.” can already be considered a fait accompli, and one can already begin to treat it as a given. The question remains how to extract the benefits from “.” and not to spend extra money on investing in this “nano-technology”.

Where to apply domain.RF?

This section will be relevant primarily for marketers, it describes the bonuses that can be obtained from the use of domains ". RF". On the negative aspects of the issue will be discussed in a separate article.
')
1) First of all, you need to understand that the domain. RF is a niche and situational solution. It is unlikely that companies will use it as the main official domain of their site. Domen.RF is convenient to use in some special conditions when quick memorability or brevity is necessary. For example, in some special promotions or on advertising media of a certain kind, such as billboards along country roads.



In certain situations, even the need to separate the advertising message header and the website address is lost. This can be good for enhancing the brightness of the message.


2) Domain. RF is always convenient to use with a redirect to the main domain of the site, which, of course, will be in the English keyboard layout. It is known that users often type not the address of the site in the address bar of the browser, but the name of the company and the product in the search engine — in order to select the first link in the list where the correct address of the site will be indicated. Yes, many people are too lazy to think about how the name of your company is correctly transliterated, and nothing can be done about it!

When typing a domain. RF browser will automatically redirect the user to the main domain of your site. An indirect advantage is that you can automatically translate the user to the Russian version of the site if the site is multilingual.

Registration problems?

The priority reservation period will last until April 2010, so it would be useful to tell here about the most common reasons for the failure to reserve domains that companies face (including Rusonix clients). And most importantly - what to do now? The most common causes of failure:

1) The trademark is registered in English. This applies not only to foreign brands. Companies that actively conduct business on the Internet registered trademarks (TK) to protect their RU-domains. And when registering, many indicated the domain name completely. For example, REBENOK.RU. It is clear that according to the rules of preliminary reservation of domains in the “.” zone, such a TK does not give its owner any rights.

A separate line are numerous foreign brands. Not all companies have bothered to register the eponymous sign in Russian. So, for example, TZ “SAMSUNG” is registered, and TZ “PANASONIK” is not. So Samsung can reserve SAMSUNG.RF, and Panasonic will have to either buy the domain PANASONIK.RF for big money, or to sue the cybersquatters.

2) The trademark contains both Cyrillic and Latin characters. It is no longer known who first thought of doing this, but in Russia a huge number of “double” TZs are registered. It looks like this: two words are written one under another, the first - in Russian letters, the second - in English. For example,

BAGEL

BUBLIK

Thus, the assurances of some patent attorneys, the company can save money on registering additional TK. This is a very vulnerable position. There is a serious risk that, as a result, the company will not be able to defend its right to either BUBLIK or BUBLIK. Plus, of course, such a TK does not give the right to priority when registering a domain in the “.” zone. It is hard to believe, but there are a very large number of such signs.

3) The trademark is in the process of registration. For obvious reasons, applications for trademarks do not confirm the company's right to a particular designation. Accordingly, the domain can not be reserved. Certainly need a certificate of registration of TK.

4) There are several applications for reserving the same domain. This is possible because the same name can be registered as TK for different classes of goods and services by different companies. For example, one company may produce tables "BUBLIK", and the other - TV sets "BUBLIK". Each of these companies may have its own TUB “BUBLIK” for the respective classes and this is completely normal. According to the latest update of the reservation rules, the domain will go to the company - the owner of the current TK with the earliest priority date.

5) All textual component of a trademark is an unprotected element. This happens when a combined designation is registered: image + text. At the same time, the text is often unprotected for the necessary class of goods and services for the company. For example, the logo, and under it the inscription "Security Agency". In the case of registration of such TK in the appropriate class, the text “Security Agency” will be a non-protected element. Therefore, the domain PROTECTION AGENCY.RF for such TK can not be reserved. If the text contained at least one protected word, for example, “Tiger Security Agency”, then the company could reserve the domain PROTECTION AGENCY TOT. RF.

The reasons for failure are clear. But what should companies do that have a well-promoted website on a domain in the “.RU” zone and have not received priority? There is a serious risk that competitors or cybersquatters will occupy the same name in the “.” zone. From April 2010, domain registration will be open to all comers. Professional domain invaders have sufficient experience, financial and technical resources to occupy promising, sought-after domains in the first place. Is it possible to resist?

We have seriously investigated this issue and have developed a behavior strategy that allows us to increase the company's chances of getting a domain in the “.” zone. So, you need:
• Check if the domain is not busy in the priority registration process, if there are no competing registered TK;
• Apply for TK registration in the correct format until April 2010; the sooner the better;
• Try to occupy the desired domain as soon as domain registration is open to everyone (Dutch auction, free sale);
• If you managed to take a domain - everything is fine, the company will have both a domain and a trademark;
• Try to negotiate the sale of the domain with the new owner;
• If it was not possible to borrow / outbid the domain - wait for the registration of the trademark (a year and a half);
• Having a registered TK in our hands, it is possible through court either to take away a domain (ideally), or to prohibit its use (in the worst case) for those classes of goods and services for which TK is registered.

Rusonix offers this algorithm as a package of services to anyone who, for one reason or another, failed to reserve a domain in the “.” zone. Contact your lawyer for advice, talk with a familiar patent attorney, for sure they can help you. The main thing is not to let the situation take its course.

You can check the employment of the domain on the official free whois-server of RosNIIROS . You can search for trademarks online in a paid server .