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Registrars given access to Trademark Clearinghouse

Kevin Murphy, October 5, 2013, 13:07:05 (UTC), Domain Registrars

Accredited registrars on older contracts can now get access to the Trademark Clearinghouse for testing purposes, ICANN announced last night.
Previously, ICANN was only handing out credentials to registrars on the new 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement, but many registrars complained that this didn’t give them time to evaluate the TMCH and the RAA at the same time.
ICANN had originally argued that the restriction made sense because the TMCH is used only for new gTLDs, and registrars must have signed the 2013 RAA to sell new gTLD domains.
But feedback from registrars has helped it change its mind. ICANN said:

all ICANN accredited Registrars, not just those that have signed the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), will be able to request registration tokens and start testing their systems with the Trademark Clearinghouse database before it must begin its authenticating and verifying services for trademark data.

Instruction for signing up for TMCH testing can be found here.

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Comments (1)

  1. For all parties wishing for a successful launch of the new gTLDs this is an excellent bit of news. ICANN lifting the original restriction of TMDB testing access means that more registrars will be able to prepare their systems in time and ultimately to be ready for the first launches.
    It is always good to see ICANN listening to its stakeholders and reacting promptly to any issues pointed out.

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