Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. We request the e-mail address of the trademark holder as a precautionary step as stated in the Clearinghouse Guidelines. Deloitte preserves to right to check this e-mail address’.

On the test environment the ID should start with a unique ID formatted in 6 digits left padded with zeros and ending in “-1”. To retrieve this unique ID you will need to use the create command with a random ID and the subsequent error message will tell you the correct format.

On the production environment the ID should start with the provided User-id (without the "u" )formatted in 6 digits left padded with zeros and ending in “-1”.

A url to generate labels for registered trademarks can be found here:

https://secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com/tmch/public/labels?name=<trad... name>&jurisdiction=<jurisdiction>

For marks protected under statute or treaty and court validated marks, click here 

https://secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com/tmch/public/labels?name=<trad... name>&country=<country>
 

Fields <trademark name>, <jurisdiction> and <country> must be filled in by the users (omitting the “<” and “>”). For a list of jurisdictions and country codes please refer to the API documentation Annexes available on our websites download section.

Yes, the current character limit for the detailed description of goods and services for registered trademarks differs on the Test and Production environment. On test environment the character limit is 255 bytes. On production the character limit is 50000 bytes.

For court validated marks and marks protected by statute or treaty the character limit, for detailed description of goods and services, is the same on the Test and Production environment, which is 255 bytes.

This is currently not possible on the test environment.

Updating mark records in production is possible via the Clearinghouse user interface and the API.

Currently, the SMD file is not generated. Once the SMD file generation has been implemented you will be able to retrieve SMD files with the info command as described in the API Documentation available on our   website.

API polling has not been activated yet, final development is in progress. Once this API function is activated a notification will be sent to all API users.

Once polling has been implemented it will serve 3 main functions:

• notifications on changes;
• notifications on claims, for the agent to distribute to trademark holders, if the messages are not polled after a predetermined time an e-mail with the claims notifications will also be sent to the agent;
• notifications on SMD creation.

All prices are in USD. All payments, either by credit card or wire transfer, should be done in USD. In case wire transfers are send to our bank accounts in another currency, this will be converted to USD at the expense of the sender.

CHIP S.A. is subject to the Luxembourg VAT regulations. We therefore have to charge VAT:

• the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent’s registered country of residence is within the European Union and the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent has indicated that it is not VAT-liable, i.e. did not provide a valid VAT-number;
• the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent’s registered country of residence is Luxemburg.

Trademark Holders using the Basic Account can pay using VISA, Mastercard or American Express.

No, payment by credit card is only for Trademark Holders who've chosen the Basic Fee Structure. In order to qualify for discounts in the Advanced Fee Structure, you need to have a Prepayment Account and fund it by wire transfer only.

The Clearinghouse only accepts payments by credit card (VISA, MasterCard, Amex) from Trademark Holders. Trademark Agents or Trademark Holders who have registered for a Prepayment account pay by wire transfer.

You can sign up on our website. After going through the acceptance process, a minimum deposit of 15,000 USD is required to activate the Prepayment Account. These funds are immediately and entirely available for recording trademarks. There is no limit on the number of trademarks that may be recorded, as long as the account has sufficient funds. (Only wire transfers are accepted, and the wiring party will bear any applicable or associated transaction and currency conversion costs.)

The Clearinghouse sends out a notification by e-mail each time an invoice is generated. You can always access and print your electronic invoices by going to "My Account" in the web interface. The Clearinghouse does not send paper invoices, so be cautious when you receive one as it could be fraudulent.

The Clearinghouse sends out a notification by e-mail each time an invoice is generated. If you haven't received a notification, please check your spam folder. In any case, you can always access and print your electronic invoices by going to "My Account" in the web interface. The Clearinghouse does not send paper invoices, so be cautious when you receive one as it could be fraudulent.

The Clearinghouse does not use postal mail, so it is likely that this is fraudulent. Please consult your profile page only to view and download invoices.

In case no sufficient funds are available to renew all selected Trademark Records, Trademark Records are renewed in a serial way until the Prepayment Account no longer has sufficient funds to renew the next Trademark Records.

A Trademark Record will not be accepted for registration once the Prepayment Account does not contain sufficient funds to pay the applicable registration fee. You can refill your account at any time by accessing your profile page.

All invoices from the Trademark Clearinghouse are issued by CHIP S.A. with registered address at Route d’Esch 278 in 1471 Luxembourg (Commercial Registration Number B170388).

Be careful !  We only issue electronic invoices, that are stored in your profile. Never pay any invoices that are send to you by postal mail, as they could be fraudulent.

All customer data are handled and stored on an SSL platform, secured by encryption and authentication technology. The platform is Card Industry Compliant (PCI DSS compliant), awarded by Visa, MasterCard and TDC by American Express, which demand the strictest control of financial data being held, processed and transferred. SHA-1 encryption secures the shopping data you transfer to our platform.

Your credit card may be declined by our credit card processing system for a number of reasons. Only your credit card issuer or financial institution can confirm the specific reason for a declined credit card. Possible reasons include:

• Not having available credit on the card;
• The card has expired;
• The credit card information including the billing address was not entered accurately;
• The CVV number was not entered correctly;
• As a security measure, some credit card companies reject transactions when a large number of online purchases are attempted within a short time;
• Technical issues originating with your bank or credit card company, or with TMCH or our credit card processing services, can occasionally result in a declined card.

If your credit card has been declined, you should verify that the card is still valid and that the information entered is accurate. Please enter your billing address exactly as it appears on your credit card statement.  You may also choose to use a different credit card.

Please contact the credit card issuing company or your bank for questions relating to your credit card or to investigate reasons of refusal.

We are limited to billing and accepting payments in USD only.

If your question is not listed in the FAQ, you can contact our support service using the Clearinghouse web interface (if you are a registered user). If you aren't a registered user yet, please use the contact form on our web site.

Invoices are generated automatically and can at all times be downloaded by clicking on 'My Profile' in the web interface. The Clearinghouse also sends out a notification e-mail each time an invoice is generated, so if you didn't receive it, it is best to check your spam folder in your e-mail client.

As a registered user, you will have access to the full web interface and can check out all the pages and features. Once you have actually submitted a trademark registration and have paid for it, the order is considered final.

Status Points expire at the end of the Registration Period and the Status Counter is then automatically reset to zero. The Registration Period is defined as follows:

- For a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent who did record one or more Trademarks in the Trademark Clearinghouse during the Early Bird Registration Period, the initial Registration Period will begin when they have recorded the first Trademark in the Trademark Clearinghouse, and will end on the first anniversary of the date the Early Bird Registration Period closed.

- For a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent who did not record a Trademark during the Early Bird Registration Period, the initial Registration Period will begin when they have recorded the first Trademark in the Trademark Clearinghouse, and ends on the first anniversary of such date.

Thereafter, in either of the above two cases, each subsequent Registration Period shall consist of a 12 month period beginning on the date of termination of the previous Registration Period and ending on the first anniversary of such date.

Trademark Holders using their credit card will be able to record multiple trademarks, but they will be limited to 10 Trademark Registrations including the multiple domain names per payment transaction.

The Prepayment Account can only be funded by wire transfer of immediately available funds to an account or accounts as specified by the Trademark Clearinghouse. All transaction and potential currency conversion costs associated with the wire transfer will be borne by the Trademark Agent or Holder, as applicable. Wire transfer will be the only form of payment accepted by the Trademark Clearinghouse for a Prepayment Account.

At any time the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent can increase the amount of funds in its Prepayment Account with a minimum of USD 1.000 per payment, through the “profile management” page, which will be accessible through the Trademark Clearinghouse website.

Please note that these are the only official bank accounts:

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC: BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

You can follow the evolution of your Status Points in the Clearinghouse User Interface by going to your profile page.

Since you will be charged per trademark record you submitted regardless of the final decision taken by the verification agents of the Clearinghouse, you will be charged even if your trademark record is deemed invalid.

No, a Trademark Holder can record as many Trademarks Records as he/she wants within the Clearinghouse without having to pass through a Trademark Agent. The only limit - as to the number of Trademark records a Trademark Holder can submit -  is the number of trademarks records submitted per credit card transaction. The limit is ten (10) trademark recordings per credit card transaction.

The Trademark Holder can submit more than ten (10) trademark records provided that he/she does so in another credit card transaction. The Trademark Holder can also decide to opt for a Prepayment Account instead of the payment per credit card. You can find more information about the payment options available in the Fee Structure Summary available in the Download section.

This refers to the fact that maximum ten (10) trademark recordings can be done per credit card transaction.

If you opted for the Advanced Fee Structure, you can increase your Prepayment Level by wire transfer only. Access your profile page and request a pro-forma invoice for the desired amount. The invoice will list the correct wire details and payment reference. Only wire to these bank accounts and add the correct payment reference for faster processing:

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC:  BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

Recording trademarks within the Clearinghouse will help companies protect their brands in two ways: with a Sunrise Service and a Trademark Claims Service.

1. Sunrise is an initial period of at least 30 days before domain names are offered to the general public. Trademark owners can take advantage of the Sunrise to safeguard the domain name that matches their trademark. A Sunrise Period is mandatory for all new gTLDs and having a validated trademark entry in the Clearinghouse is the minimum requirement to participate in this limited pre-registration period. So, to be prepared for “the biggest Sunrise ever”, you must make sure that you enter any trademark that needs protection into the Clearinghouse.
2. The Trademark Claims service follows the Sunrise. It is a notification service – mandated by ICANN for all new gTLDs – to warn both domain name registrants as well as trademark holders of possible infringements.

The service works as follows:

• Potential domain name registrants receive a warning notice when attempting to register a domain name that matches a trademark term in the TMCH.
• If, after receiving and accepting the notice, the domain name registrant does continue to register the domain name, the trademark holder with a corresponding mark will receive notification of the domain name registration, so they can take any appropriate action if should they so desire.

The verified data in the Trademark Clearinghouse will be used to support both Trademark Claims and Sunrise Services required in all new gTLDs. The Clearinghouse will play an important role in the New gTLD Program and in the ongoing protection of trademark rights.

Trademark Claims services will be provided for a 90 day period as of general availability when a TLD launches.

The Clearinghouse will notify the Trademark Holder or the Trademark Agent when a third party registers a domain name that is identical to their trademark recorded in the Clearinghouse.

You will receive a Trademark Claims notification as of the registration of a domain name matching your trademark record, not one that is similar. You will not receive a notification if the domain name applicant decides not to pursue with his/her request to register a domain name matching your trademark record after he/she has receive a notification informing him/her of the existence of your Clearinghouse trademark record.

The term “domain name” is a name consisting of two or more levels, such as, for instance, “trademark-clearinghouse.com”. A label is a part of a domain name, such as, for instance, “trademark-clearinghouse” from the domain name “trademark-clearinghouse.com”.

There are no extra fees for opting in or out of Sunrise services or trademark Claims notifications.

• You can submit your query through the general inquiries contact form.
• Alternatively Trademark Clearinghouse support can also be reached by phone during Belgian business days from 8AM to 5PM UTC at +32.26394870. Please note that should your question not be of a technical nature you will be redirected to general inquiries by our customer support team.
• If you have registered as a user but are awaiting the SDN check, we kindly ask you to keep in mind that this can take up to 48 hours.

If you already registered as a user, please contact our support service using the Clearinghouse web interface. If you aren't a registered user yet, please use the contact form on our web site.

Both trademark records, if eligible, will be able to participate in the Clearinghouse, but it is up to the registry to decide how they want to accept the domain name applications (e.g.first come, first serve, auction, other criteria).

Recording trademarks within the Clearinghouse will help companies protect their brands in two ways: with a Sunrise Service and a Trademark Claims Service.

1. Sunrise is an initial period of at least 30 days before domain names are offered to the general public. Trademark owners can take advantage of the Sunrise to safeguard the domain name that matches their trademark. A Sunrise Period is mandatory for all new gTLDs and having a validated trademark entry in the Clearinghouse is the minimum requirement to participate in this limited pre-registration period. So, to be prepared for “the biggest Sunrise ever”, you must make sure that you enter any trademark that needs protection into the Clearinghouse.
2. The Trademark Claims service follows the Sunrise. It is a notification service – mandated by ICANN for all new gTLDs – to warn both domain name registrants as well as trademark holders of possible infringements.

The service works as follows:

• Potential domain name registrants receive a warning notice when attempting to register a domain name that matches a trademark term in the TMCH.
• If, after receiving and accepting the notice, the domain name registrant does continue to register the domain name, the trademark holder with a corresponding mark will receive notification of the domain name registration, so they can take any appropriate action if should they so desire.

The verified data in the Trademark Clearinghouse will be used to support both Trademark Claims and Sunrise Services required in all new gTLDs. The Clearinghouse will play an important role in the New gTLD Program and in the ongoing protection of trademark rights.

A gTLD (generic top-level domain name) is the top-level domain name of an Internet address that identifies it generically as associated with some domain class, such as .com, .net, .org, .gov, and .edu. The launch of new gTLDs will greatly expand the domain name system (DNS). Working with Intellectual Property experts and various community stakeholders, ICANN developed mechanisms that enable trademark holders to protect their rights during the DNS expansion. For more information on the other rights protection mechanism, please see ICANN’s website.

The Trademark Clearinghouse currently only applies for the new gTLDs.

For a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent who recorded or submitted one or more Trademark Records in the Clearinghouse during the Early Bird Registration Period (i.e. the period before the first Sunrise of the first new gTLD) for a period of one year, the initial Registration Period will begin from the date that the first Trademark Record has been registered or submitted in the Clearinghouse; the initial Registration Period will end on the first anniversary of the Early Bird Registration Period’s closing date.

For a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent who did not record or submit a Trademark Record during the Early Bird Registration Period, but rather registered for one year, the initial Registration Period will begin as from the date the Trademark Record is recorded or submitted in the Clearinghouse, and ends on the first anniversary of such date.

Domain names themselves cannot be registered with the Clearinghouse directly. You will need to contact a domain name registrar to register domain names for you.

Deloitte will perform the verification services related to verification of the correctness and completeness of the submitted Trademark Record information (the assessment of whether the Trademark meets the eligibility requirements as stated by the Trademark Clearinghouse). Deloitte will also provide the Clearinghouse User Interface. IBM is the provider of the central database in which all the trademark information will be stored.

There is no time limit as to when you can submit your Trademark Record in the Clearinghouse. Nevertheless, in order to obtain Sunrise Services, you will need to submit a Trademark Record prior to the launch of the TLD in which you want to register your domain name during the Sunrise period.

It can take some time to verify a trademark record. Consequently, waiting too long to submit your trademark records could imply that you may miss a sunrise registration period for a specific new gTLD.

A one (1) year registration will require the renewal of the record. When recording a trademark record for three (3) or five (5) years the trademark record will be automatically renewed. This minimizes the chance of missing out on a sunrise period because your trademark was pending renewal.

In addition, it is not known when all gTLDs will launch their extensions. Submitting your trademark record for multiple years provides more peace of mind.

The Clearinghouse will open March 26 . From that day on, you can register as a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent. After verification, you can start submitting you trademark records.

Depending on your specific case, you will need to provide the Clearinghouse with some documents. For more information, please refer to the Clearinghouse Guidelines.

All documents can be provided in PDF or JPG, with a maximum file size of 10 MB per document. The documents must be human-readable.

The terms and conditions will be final. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions then you will not be able to complete the registration process.

Yes, the terms and conditions will be published shortly on our website.

Before you can submit a Trademark Record, you need to creat a user account, either as Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent.

- Go to https://secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com and click on Register

- After you've submitted the necessary details, the Clearinghouse will check your VAT (if applicable) and whether you appear on the SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) list. Please note that these checks can take up to 48 hours.

- Once this checks are completed, you will receive an e-mail with your user name and password and further instructions

For more details, consult our 'How to register' guide in the Help Center on the home page.

The online web-application that will be made available through www.trademark-clearinghouse.com that enables you to, among other things, (i) create and manage your account with us, and (ii) submit Trademark Records in order to receive the Verification Services.

The Trademark Clearinghouse consists of two primary functions: (i) the authentication of contact information and verification of Trademark Records (see glossary) and (ii) the storage of such Trademark Records in a database in order to provide information to the new gTLD registries to support the providing of Notification of Registered Name (NORN).

Whereas Deloitte has been appointed by ICANN to provide the Clearinghouse Verification Services, a part of the Trademark Clearinghouse: the central repository for verified brands for the purpose of protecting brands in ICANN’s new gTLD program.

Please consult our Glossary page to learn what all of the acronyms mean. If you hover over an acronym with a blue line underneath, you should also see the definition.

The Clearinghouse will provide one pro-forma invoice per Prepayment Account, and is expecting a payment that matches the amount of the pro-forma invoice. Hence you need to pay for each account individually.

Whether you want to pay your initial deposit for setting up your prepayment account or you want to increase your prepayment account afterwards, you will be able to select the amount that you want to transfer in the TMCH interface (with a minimum of 15,000 USD for the initial prepayment and per steps of 1,000 USD for topping up your account). After selecting the amount that you want to transfer, the system will generate a pro-forma invoice that will allow you to wire transfer the funds to the TMCH accounts.

Make sure to instruct your financial institution that is initiating the wire transfer that all transaction and conversion costs need to be borne by the initiator of the payment. Upon receipt of your payment by the TMCH, an invoice will become available in the profile management page in the TMCH interface. Please note that we never send paper invoices and that these are our only official bank accounts:

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC: BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

If you want to act on behalf of your Trademark Holders as Trademark Agent, you will need to register for a Prepayment Account. Invoices are issued when you deposit the initial amount, and each time you refill the account. Invoices are not generated for each individual trademark record you register, but it is possible to create a report at any time, listing the number of trademarks you submitted and the charges.

The Clearinghouse does not use postal mail, so it is likely that this is fraudulent. Please consult your profile page only to view and download invoices.

If you opted for the Advanced Fee Structure, you can increase your Prepayment Level by wire transfer only. Access your profile page and request a pro-forma invoice for the desired amount. The invoice will list the correct wire details and payment reference. Only wire to these bank accounts and add the correct payment reference for faster processing:

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC:  BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

We are limited to billing and accepting payments in USD only.

The Clearinghouse sends out a notification by e-mail each time an invoice is generated. If you haven't received a notification, please check your spam folder. In any case, you can always access and print your electronic invoices by going to "My Account" in the web interface. The Clearinghouse does not send paper invoices, so be cautious when you receive one as it could be fraudulent.

The Clearinghouse sends out a notification by e-mail each time an invoice is generated. You can always access and print your electronic invoices by going to "My Account" in the web interface. The Clearinghouse does not send paper invoices, so be cautious when you receive one as it could be fraudulent.

Invoices are generated automatically and can at all times be downloaded by clicking on 'My Profile' in the web interface. The Clearinghouse also sends out a notification e-mail each time an invoice is generated, so if you didn't receive it, it is best to check your spam folder in your e-mail client.

All invoices from the Trademark Clearinghouse are issued by CHIP S.A. with registered address at Route d’Esch 278 in 1471 Luxembourg (Commercial Registration Number B170388).

Be careful !  We only issue electronic invoices, that are stored in your profile. Never pay any invoices that are send to you by postal mail, as they could be fraudulent.

You can terminate your Prepayment Account when all Trademark Records that are linked to the account have expired or have been transferred. If the account is terminated, the Trademark Clearinghouse will issue a credit note to the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent for the funds that are still available on its Prepayment Account and the funds will be transferred back to the Trademark Holder’s or Trademark Agent’s bank account. All transaction and potential currency conversion costs will be borne by the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent. The credit notes will be compliant with the Luxembourg VAT requirements (a.o. make a reference to the initial invoice) and credit the VAT treatment applied on the initial invoice.

All transaction and potential currency conversion costs associated with the wire transfer will be borne by the Trademark Agent or Holder, as applicable. In case the amount received by Trademark Clearinghouse is different from the amount specified on the pro-forma invoice, i.e. because of transaction costs (e.g. all costs related to any transaction, meaning wire transfer costs and/or costs related to the conversion from another currency to USD) charged to the Trademark Clearinghouse, the “advance payment invoice” will mention the amount that was actually received by the Trademark Clearinghouse. The invoice will mention the transaction costs that were applied on the wire transfer.

CHIP S.A. is subject to the Luxembourg VAT regulations. We therefore have to charge VAT:

• the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent’s registered country of residence is within the European Union and the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent has indicated that it is not VAT-liable, i.e. did not provide a valid VAT-number;
• the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent’s registered country of residence is Luxemburg.

At any time the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent can increase the amount of funds in its Prepayment Account with a minimum of USD 1.000 per payment, by wiring the desired amount to one of the two bank accounts below.

After receipt of the funds, your Prepayment Account will be increased with the received amount and you will be able to download an invoice for this amount.

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC:  BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

Invoices are stored as PDF and can be downloaded and printed using our interface. We do not send any paper invoices.

Allow up to two calendar days for your marketing profile to be checked and activated. Please contact support if it takes longer, so we can look into the problem.

It can take two calendar days after you registered as Agent before you receive the welcome mail explaining how to create your marketing profile. You can contact support after two calendar days so we can find out if there was a problem.

We will send you a welcome e-mail with a link where you can create your agent marketing profile. This mail will only be send when your registration process as Trademark Agent registration was 100% complete, meaning your uploaded contract was verified and the prepayment deposit was received in full. You will be able to create a separate Agent marketing profile, allowing you to list company information and upload a logo. You'll also be able to choose if you want this information to be publicly visible or not. In addition, you will get access to exclusive marketing material for Agents only.

Small note: Being listed with your name and company logo on our website is a complimentary personal service we offer, not an obligation with express service. Allow 2 calendar days for the welcome e-mail to be sent and 2 calendar days for your marketing profile to become active, as it could be that there is a queue of Agents waiting that registered before you did.

It is indeed possible to open a Prepayment Account as a Trademark Agent or Trademark Holder and only submit Trademark Records later on. The deposited funds remain at your disposal the entire duration of your contract. The remaining amount will be refunded to you upon terminating your contract.

After you've submitted the registration form, the Clearinghouse has to perform two checks:

1) Check your VAT number if applicable.
2) Check you are not on the Specially Designated Nationals list (SDN list)

PLEASE NOTE: these checks can take up to 48 hours. You will receive an email confirmation immediately afterwards.

You can set-up your Prepayment Account at any time by going to https://secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com . A Prepayment Account is available for Trademark Holders as well as Trademark Agents.

There is no fee to be paid to become an Agent, but Agents have to enroll in the Advanced Fee Structure and therefor register for a Prepayment Account. This account requires a minimum deposit of 15,000 USD, which can be used entirely for registering trademark records.

Trademark Agents who register for a Prepayment Account automatically receive discounts as they earn Status Points. Registering as a Trademark Agent is a simple five step process:

1. Fill out the Trademark Agent application form on our secured website https://secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com . This link will be accessible once the Clearinghouse has launched on March 26.
2. The Clearinghouse will verify the data you entered:
   1. Check whether you or your company does not appear on the Specially Designated Nationals list (SDN list) *
   2. Check your VAT number if applicable
3. If step 2 was successful, you will receive a confirmation e-mail, containing your user name and temporary password.
4. The first time you login, we ask you to choose a new and final password to replace the temporary one. You can now download two documents:
   1. - your personalized Trademark Agent contract. Please print and sign this and then upload it again.
   2. - the pro-forma invoice, listing all the payment details needed for your wire transfer of the prepayment deposit.
5. Once we’ve received the signed contract as well as the prepayment deposit, you’re ready to go!

*As part of its enforcement efforts, The US Office of Foreign Assets Control publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.

Whether you want to pay your initial deposit for setting up your prepayment account or you want to increase your prepayment account afterwards, you will be able to select the amount that you want to transfer in the TMCH interface (with a minimum of 15,000 USD for the initial prepayment and per steps of 1,000 USD for topping up your account). After selecting the amount that you want to transfer, the system will generate a pro-forma invoice that will allow you to wire transfer the funds to the TMCH accounts.

Make sure to instruct your financial institution that is initiating the wire transfer that all transaction and conversion costs need to be borne by the initiator of the payment. Upon receipt of your payment by the TMCH, an invoice will become available in the profile management page in the TMCH interface. Please note that we never send paper invoices and that these are our only official bank accounts:

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC: BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

There are no technical requirements that have to be fulfilled to become a Trademark Agent. Any Trademark Agent can use both the web interface, as well as the automated interface.

Please note that before you receive your credentials, we have to check whether you appear on the SDN list (Specially Designated Nationals). This could take up to 48 hours to complete.

If you want to act on behalf of your Trademark Holders as Trademark Agent, you will need to register for a Prepayment Account. Invoices are issued when you deposit the initial amount, and each time you refill the account. Invoices are not generated for each individual trademark record you register, but it is possible to create a report at any time, listing the number of trademarks you submitted and the charges.

If you opted for the Advanced Fee Structure, you can increase your Prepayment Level by wire transfer only. Access your profile page and request a pro-forma invoice for the desired amount. The invoice will list the correct wire details and payment reference. Only wire to these bank accounts and add the correct payment reference for faster processing:

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC:  BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

Status Points expire at the end of the Registration Period and the Status Counter is then automatically reset to zero. The Registration Period is defined as follows:

- For a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent who did record one or more Trademarks in the Trademark Clearinghouse during the Early Bird Registration Period, the initial Registration Period will begin when they have recorded the first Trademark in the Trademark Clearinghouse, and will end on the first anniversary of the date the Early Bird Registration Period closed.

- For a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent who did not record a Trademark during the Early Bird Registration Period, the initial Registration Period will begin when they have recorded the first Trademark in the Trademark Clearinghouse, and ends on the first anniversary of such date.

Thereafter, in either of the above two cases, each subsequent Registration Period shall consist of a 12 month period beginning on the date of termination of the previous Registration Period and ending on the first anniversary of such date.

All Trademark Records in TMCH are subject to annual revalidation. In case the Trademark Record was registered for a single year or the multi-year registration has come to an end, the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent receives 2 e-mail notifications: one 60 days before the expiration date and one 30 days before expiration and 10 days after the expiration date. This is independent whether the registrations were performed through the web or through the automated interface.

Trademark Holders and Trademark Agents can access the list of Trademarks that should be renewed within a certain period of time. Trademark Records are put on that list when their expiration date lies within 60 days of current date.

Trademark Holders or Trademark Agents can open that list from the “profile management” page. A button “Renewals” on the “profile management” page opens the list of trademarks to be renewed. On that list, Trademark Holders or Trademark Agents can select all (using button “Select all”) or select some (using checkboxes) Trademarks that need to be renewed. After selection of the Trademarks, the user clicks the “Renew” button to initiate the renewal process for the selected Trademarks.

Upon renewal, Trademark Holders or Trademark Agents will be able to change the duration of the consecutive Registration Period for Trademark Records.

Upon submission of the Trademark Records to be renewed, the Trademark Holder’s or Trademark Agent’s Prepayment Account is checked to see if sufficient funds are available to renew the selected Trademark Records. In case no sufficient funds are available to renew all selected Trademark Records, Trademark Records are renewed in a serial way until the Prepayment Account no longer has sufficient funds to renew the next Trademark Records. The Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent is advised to increase its Prepayment Account.

The discount fee structure is available to Trademark Holders and Trademark Agents, and provides for step-based pricing discounts based on volume and the number of years that the Trademark is being registered for.  In order to be eligible for the Advanced Fee Structure, Trademark Holders and Trademark Agents must establish a Prepayment Account.

No, payment by credit card is only for Trademark Holders who've chosen the Basic Fee Structure. In order to qualify for discounts in the Advanced Fee Structure, you need to have a Prepayment Account and fund it by wire transfer only.

You can terminate your Prepayment Account when all Trademark Records that are linked to the account have expired or have been transferred. If the account is terminated, the Trademark Clearinghouse will issue a credit note to the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent for the funds that are still available on its Prepayment Account and the funds will be transferred back to the Trademark Holder’s or Trademark Agent’s bank account. All transaction and potential currency conversion costs will be borne by the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent. The credit notes will be compliant with the Luxembourg VAT requirements (a.o. make a reference to the initial invoice) and credit the VAT treatment applied on the initial invoice.

Trademark Holders and Agents who register for a Prepayment Account (Advanced Fee structure) automatically receive discounts as they earn Status Points. Status Points are earned by either recording or renewing trademarks. The Status Points determine how much you will pay for a registration at that point in time. The higher your number of Status Points, the lower the price you pay for a registration. See our Fee structure for all details.

All prices are in USD. All payments, either by credit card or wire transfer, should be done in USD. In case wire transfers are send to our bank accounts in another currency, this will be converted to USD at the expense of the sender.

All transaction and potential currency conversion costs associated with the wire transfer will be borne by the Trademark Agent or Holder, as applicable. In case the amount received by Trademark Clearinghouse is different from the amount specified on the pro-forma invoice, i.e. because of transaction costs (e.g. all costs related to any transaction, meaning wire transfer costs and/or costs related to the conversion from another currency to USD) charged to the Trademark Clearinghouse, the “advance payment invoice” will mention the amount that was actually received by the Trademark Clearinghouse. The invoice will mention the transaction costs that were applied on the wire transfer.

In case no sufficient funds are available to renew all selected Trademark Records, Trademark Records are renewed in a serial way until the Prepayment Account no longer has sufficient funds to renew the next Trademark Records.

A Trademark Record will not be accepted for registration once the Prepayment Account does not contain sufficient funds to pay the applicable registration fee. You can refill your account at any time by accessing your profile page.

CHIP S.A. is subject to the Luxembourg VAT regulations. We therefore have to charge VAT:

• the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent’s registered country of residence is within the European Union and the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent has indicated that it is not VAT-liable, i.e. did not provide a valid VAT-number;
• the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent’s registered country of residence is Luxemburg.

At any time the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent can increase the amount of funds in its Prepayment Account with a minimum of USD 1.000 per payment, by wiring the desired amount to one of the two bank accounts below.

After receipt of the funds, your Prepayment Account will be increased with the received amount and you will be able to download an invoice for this amount.

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC:  BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

You can sign up on our website. After going through the acceptance process, a minimum deposit of 15,000 USD is required to activate the Prepayment Account. These funds are immediately and entirely available for recording trademarks. There is no limit on the number of trademarks that may be recorded, as long as the account has sufficient funds. (Only wire transfers are accepted, and the wiring party will bear any applicable or associated transaction and currency conversion costs.)

The Prepayment Account can only be funded by wire transfer of immediately available funds to an account or accounts as specified by the Trademark Clearinghouse. All transaction and potential currency conversion costs associated with the wire transfer will be borne by the Trademark Agent or Holder, as applicable. Wire transfer will be the only form of payment accepted by the Trademark Clearinghouse for a Prepayment Account.

At any time the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent can increase the amount of funds in its Prepayment Account with a minimum of USD 1.000 per payment, through the “profile management” page, which will be accessible through the Trademark Clearinghouse website.

Please note that these are the only official bank accounts:

Beneficiary: CHIP S.A. , route d'Esch 278, 1471 Luxembourg

Bank Name: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB81 BARC 2047 3586 2548 99
SWIFT-BIC: BARCGB22

Bank Name: Bank of America, New York, NY
Account Number: 435031404745
SWIFT Code: BOFAUS3N
Wire Routing Transit Number: 026009593

The fee the Clearinghouse charges, is for recording your trademark in the TMCH. If you wish to participate in a Sunrise of a TLD, there will likely be an additional cost to actually register your domain name in that TLD. This cost is not determined by the Clearinghouse but  depends on the commercial model of the specific TLD. The Clearinghouse can not register actual domain names, you will need to contact a domain name registrar.

The first 10 domain name labels, generated using the matching rules, are included in the price of the registration. The fee for each additional domain name label (above 10) that a Trademark Holder chooses to link to a Trademark Record, varies based on the duration of the registration. For a 1-Year registration, the price is $1, for a 3-Year registration $3 and for a 5-Year registration $5.

If your question is not listed in the FAQ, you can contact our support service using the Clearinghouse web interface (if you are a registered user). If you aren't a registered user yet, please use the contact form on our web site.

The discount fee structure is available to Trademark Holders and Trademark Agents, and provides for step-based pricing discounts based on volume and the number of years that the Trademark is being registered for.  In order to be eligible for the Advanced Fee Structure, Trademark Holders and Trademark Agents must establish a Prepayment Account.

There are no extra fees for opting in or out of Sunrise services or trademark Claims notifications.

Trademark Holders and Agents who register for a Prepayment Account (Advanced Fee structure) automatically receive discounts as they earn Status Points. Status Points are earned by either recording or renewing trademarks. The Status Points determine how much you will pay for a registration at that point in time. The higher your number of Status Points, the lower the price you pay for a registration. See our Fee structure for all details.

There is no maximum amount of domain name labels that can be linked to a Trademark Record within a single payment transaction. Upon registration of a Trademark Record, the Trademark Holder has the possibility to select additional domain names that can be associated with the Trademark Record, based on the Domain Name Matching Rules. Up to 10 domain names are included in the price of Trademark Registration. For each additional domain name label that is associated with the Trademark Registration, an additional cost will be calculated to the Trademark Holder.

All prices are in USD. All payments, either by credit card or wire transfer, should be done in USD. In case wire transfers are send to our bank accounts in another currency, this will be converted to USD at the expense of the sender.

The fee the Clearinghouse charges, is for recording your trademark in the TMCH. If you wish to participate in a Sunrise of a TLD, there will likely be an additional cost to actually register your domain name in that TLD. This cost is not determined by the Clearinghouse but  depends on the commercial model of the specific TLD. The Clearinghouse can not register actual domain names, you will need to contact a domain name registrar.

Yes, a screenshot of a website containing the name of the trademark can be accepted as proof of use.

Yes, as stated in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines, labels and tags from a product with the name of the trademark can be accepted as proof of use.

Recording trademarks within the Clearinghouse will help companies protect their brands in two ways: with a Sunrise Service and a Trademark Claims Service.

1. Sunrise is an initial period of at least 30 days before domain names are offered to the general public. Trademark owners can take advantage of the Sunrise to safeguard the domain name that matches their trademark. A Sunrise Period is mandatory for all new gTLDs and having a validated trademark entry in the Clearinghouse is the minimum requirement to participate in this limited pre-registration period. So, to be prepared for “the biggest Sunrise ever”, you must make sure that you enter any trademark that needs protection into the Clearinghouse.
2. The Trademark Claims service follows the Sunrise. It is a notification service – mandated by ICANN for all new gTLDs – to warn both domain name registrants as well as trademark holders of possible infringements.

The service works as follows:

• Potential domain name registrants receive a warning notice when attempting to register a domain name that matches a trademark term in the TMCH.
• If, after receiving and accepting the notice, the domain name registrant does continue to register the domain name, the trademark holder with a corresponding mark will receive notification of the domain name registration, so they can take any appropriate action if should they so desire.

The verified data in the Trademark Clearinghouse will be used to support both Trademark Claims and Sunrise Services required in all new gTLDs. The Clearinghouse will play an important role in the New gTLD Program and in the ongoing protection of trademark rights.

As stated in the proof of use memo as published on the ICANN website and as mentioned in the Clearinghouse Guidelines, a link to website is insufficient.

All documents need to be provided electronically.

Yes, if you submit a registered trademark in the Clearinghouse and wish to benefit from the sunrise services, you will have to submit a single sample of proof of use as well as a signed declaration of proof of use. You can find more information concerning the proof of use in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

There is no cut-off date as such, as recording your trademarks in the Clearinghouse can be done at any time. You can of course only get a Signed Mark Data file, enabling you to request a Sunrise registration, once your trademark has been verified.

According to the Applicant Guidebook, the Sunrise period will occur during the pre-launch phase whereas the Trademark Claims period will occur during the initial launch period of a new gTLD. Chronologically speaking, the sunrise period will occur before the trademark claims period.

There will be no additional fee when you submit proof of use at a later stage.

This hyphen (-) will remain in the label automatically generated by the Clearinghouse, because the hyphen is a character which can be represented in the domain name system. You can find more information about the generation of labels in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

This list of labels is generated automatically based on the the name of your trademark. You will then be able to select from the list of automatically generated labels. You can find more information about the generation of labels in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

The space present in the name of the trademark will be either omitted or replaced by a hyphen in the label. The labels are automatically generated by the Clearinghouse on the basis of the name of the trademark. You can find more information on the generation of labels by the Clearinghouse in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

You will be able to upload the signed declaration and the proof of use through the Clearinghouse User interface.

The submitting party is the name of the trademark holder.

If the information of the trademark is the same, then you only need to provide additional proof of use every 5 years.

Please see the API documentation in our Download section for more information on how document needs to be sent through the API.

You will need to provide a declaration of proof of use and a sample of proof of use for each Trademark Record.

Yes, only one sample of proof of use is necessary per trademark record.

As stated in the Clearinghouse Guidelines, one sample of proof of use is sufficient per trademark record.

The term “domain name” is a name consisting of two or more levels, such as, for instance, “trademark-clearinghouse.com”. A label is a part of a domain name, such as, for instance, “trademark-clearinghouse” from the domain name “trademark-clearinghouse.com”.

No, it is not possible to register a domain name matching your trademark during a Sunrise period without the SMD file (Signed Mark Data). This file provided to you by the Clearinghouse once your trademark record has been verified.

Yes, the Sunrise periods are imposed by ICANN to all registries managing a new gTLD according to the Applicant Guidebook.

You will only need to submit one valid sample of proof of use per trademark record linked to a registered trademark.

Proof of use is only mandatory when you would like to obtain Sunrise Services for a registered trademark. The option to obtain Sunrise Services may be selected at any time.

There are no extra fees for opting in or out of Sunrise services or trademark Claims notifications.

• You can submit your query through the general inquiries contact form.
• Alternatively Trademark Clearinghouse support can also be reached by phone during Belgian business days from 8AM to 5PM UTC at +32.26394870. Please note that should your question not be of a technical nature you will be redirected to general inquiries by our customer support team.
• If you have registered as a user but are awaiting the SDN check, we kindly ask you to keep in mind that this can take up to 48 hours.

The Clearinghouse will open March 26 . From that day on, you can register as a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent. After verification, you can start submitting you trademark records.

If you already registered as a user, please contact our support service using the Clearinghouse web interface. If you aren't a registered user yet, please use the contact form on our web site.

All invoices from the Trademark Clearinghouse are issued by CHIP S.A. with registered address at Route d’Esch 278 in 1471 Luxembourg (Commercial Registration Number B170388).

Be careful !  We only issue electronic invoices, that are stored in your profile. Never pay any invoices that are send to you by postal mail, as they could be fraudulent.

Access to the test environment for the API is possible once you are a registered Trademark Agent. If you wish to receive a username and password, please e-mail api@trademark-clearinghouse.com with your Agent ID and the IP address you wish to use to connect to the test environment.

The test environment for the API is available for registered Trademark Agents. If you wish to receive a user name and password, please e-mail api@trademark-clearinghouse.com and include your Agent ID and the IP address you wish to use to access the test environment.

Please see the API documentation in our Download section for more information on how document needs to be sent through the API.

All documents can be provided in PDF or JPG, with a maximum file size of 10 MB per document. The documents must be human-readable.

Yes, the latest version of the Automated Interface is available in our Download section

No, it is not possible. Trademarks starting with or containing a dot will not be accepted in the Trademark Clearinghouse. Dots cannot be replaced with a hyphen.

Yes, you should provide a description of every class you have selected if the description is different from description and class number as provided in the description of goods and services class. The detailed description will be included in the SMD (sunrise file) as well as on the notification provided to a third party during the trademark claims services.

For a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent who recorded or submitted one or more Trademark Records in the Clearinghouse during the Early Bird Registration Period (i.e. the period before the first Sunrise of the first new gTLD) for a period of one year, the initial Registration Period will begin from the date that the first Trademark Record has been registered or submitted in the Clearinghouse; the initial Registration Period will end on the first anniversary of the Early Bird Registration Period’s closing date.

For a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent who did not record or submit a Trademark Record during the Early Bird Registration Period, but rather registered for one year, the initial Registration Period will begin as from the date the Trademark Record is recorded or submitted in the Clearinghouse, and ends on the first anniversary of such date.

Yes, any mark with at least one character is acceptable in the Clearinghouse.

Since you will be charged per trademark record you submitted regardless of the final decision taken by the verification agents of the Clearinghouse, you will be charged even if your trademark record is deemed invalid.

This depends of the number of verifications requested at the time your trademark record is submitted and of whether all provided information is correct. Find out more about the verification process in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

Trademarks subject to successful cancellation or invalidation procedures cannot be accepted in the Clearinghouse. You can find more information on the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

Trademarks subject to successful rectification proceedings cannot be accepted in the Clearinghouse. You can find more information on the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

No, this is not possible. Trademarks with the same name but registered in a different jurisdiction by the Trademark Holder will be treated as separate and independent trademark records. This will mean that if you want, for instance, to submit to the Clearinghouse a Trademark registered in France and in the United Kingdom, you will have to submit two separate and independent records: one for the Trademark registered in France and one for the Trademark registered in the United Kingdom.

State trademarks are not eligible for insertion in the Clearinghouse as trademarks need to be at least of national effect in order to be accepted in the Clearinghouse.  Trademarks registered by a city, state, province, or sub-national system will therefore not be accepted in the Clearinghouse. You can find more information about the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Clearinghouse Guidelines.

No, trademarks which are currently under application will not be accepted in the Clearinghouse. You can find more information about the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines.

Yes, trademarks containing numbers can be accepted by the Clearinghouse. You can find more information about the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

The dates should be entered in YYYY-MM-DD format.

If you have opted to record in the Clearinghouse for three (3) or five (5) years, your trademark record will be automatically renewed. You will only need to submit information again, if the information you previously submitted is no longer complete and/or accurate, or if you are requested to do so by the verification agent during the automatic annual re verification.

If your trademark record in the Clearinghouse has expired, you will have to submit the same information you would submit when submitting a trademark record for the first time.

This depends on the type of trademarks you submit. Which information and documentary evidence will be required by the Clearinghouse is specified in details in the Clearinghouse Guidelines (available in our Download section)

You will have the possibility to correct errors free of charge one time. You will be notified by the verification agents of the Clearinghouse should the information you submitted be incorrect. You can provide a correction within a time limit of twenty (20) business days. Only if the information is still incorrect after this first correction, or if you have failed to correct the information within twenty (20) business days, your trademark record will be deactivated.

You will have twenty (20) calendar days to reply.

For the moment, you can submit (1) registered trademarks, (2) court validated marks and (3) marks protected by treaty or statute in the Clearinghouse. In the future, the Clearinghouse may agree upon request of the registries to accept and verify “other types of marks”. This is however currently not the case.

As provided in the gTLD Applicant Guidebook, trademarks containing a “dot” will not be accepted by the Clearinghouse. You can find more information on the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available in our Download section.

The Trademark Holders or Trademark Agents will only be notified when a another party registers a domain name matching the name of their trademark during a sunrise period or a trademark claims period provided that they opted for sunrise services or trademark claims services.

The character with the accent will be present in the label generated by the Clearinghouse. It will not be replaced by a character without accent as IDN characters are accepted by the Clearinghouse.

No, these will not be accepted as labels composed of the mixed scripts cannot be generated. Therefore labels based, for instance, on a trademark name containing only Chinese characters will be accepted. Labels based however, for instance, on a trademark name containing both Chinese and English characters will not be accepted.

For the moment, you can submit to the Clearinghouse (1) registered trademarks, (2) court validated marks and (3) marks protected by treaty or statute. In the future, the Clearinghouse may agree with registries to process other types of marks, such as company names. This is however currently not the case.

It can take some time to verify a trademark record. Consequently, waiting too long to submit your trademark records could imply that you may miss a sunrise registration period for a specific new gTLD.

If you record for three (3) or five (5) years, you will only receive a notification in the event the verification agents of the Clearinghouse require some clarifications with regards to your trademark record. All trademark records will be verified on an annual basis.

A one (1) year registration will require the renewal of the record. When recording a trademark record for three (3) or five (5) years the trademark record will be automatically renewed. This minimizes the chance of missing out on a sunrise period because your trademark was pending renewal.

In addition, it is not known when all gTLDs will launch their extensions. Submitting your trademark record for multiple years provides more peace of mind.

As stated in the Clearinghouse Guidelines, one sample of proof of use is sufficient per trademark record.

Well known or famous non registered trademarks can be accepted in the Clearinghouse provided that the Trademark Holder can submit to the Clearinghouse a court order providing for such protection. Such trademark must be recorded under the trademark type “court validated mark”.

These trademarks can be accepted in the Clearinghouse under certain conditions. For more information on the eligibility requirements to be met by such trademarks, as well as examples of such trademarks, we advise you to consult the full Clearinghouse Guidelines, available in our Download section.

No, it is not possible to register a domain name matching your trademark during a Sunrise period without the SMD file (Signed Mark Data). This file provided to you by the Clearinghouse once your trademark record has been verified.

Yes, trademarks in non-ASCII characters are accepted.

Yes, trademarks in IDN characters (Internationalized Domain Name) are accepted.

You will only need to submit one valid sample of proof of use per trademark record linked to a registered trademark.

You have two choices: either use the Clearinghouse User Interface or use the Automated Interface (API)

At this time, documentary evidence can be submitted in JPEG or PDF format only, using the Clearinghouse User Interface. The size of each document can be up to 10 MB. Documents should be human-readable.

Both trademark records, if eligible, will be able to participate in the Clearinghouse, but it is up to the registry to decide how they want to accept the domain name applications (e.g.first come, first serve, auction, other criteria).

The Clearinghouse will open March 26 . From that day on, you can register as a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent. After verification, you can start submitting you trademark records.

All documents can be provided in PDF or JPG, with a maximum file size of 10 MB per document. The documents must be human-readable.

Yes, trademarks in both Latin as well as non-Latin script are accepted.

If you register a Trademark Record for a period of three (3) or five (5) years, it will be re-verified annually. In the event that the provided information is incorrect or no longer up-to-date a notification will be sent out to the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent.

Proof of use is only mandatory when you would like to obtain Sunrise Services for a registered trademark. The option to obtain Sunrise Services may be selected at any time.

As a registered user, you will have access to the full web interface and can check out all the pages and features. Once you have actually submitted a trademark registration and have paid for it, the order is considered final.

All Trademark Records in TMCH are subject to annual revalidation. In case the Trademark Record was registered for a single year or the multi-year registration has come to an end, the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent receives 2 e-mail notifications: one 60 days before the expiration date and one 30 days before expiration and 10 days after the expiration date. This is independent whether the registrations were performed through the web or through the automated interface.

Trademark Holders and Trademark Agents can access the list of Trademarks that should be renewed within a certain period of time. Trademark Records are put on that list when their expiration date lies within 60 days of current date.

Trademark Holders or Trademark Agents can open that list from the “profile management” page. A button “Renewals” on the “profile management” page opens the list of trademarks to be renewed. On that list, Trademark Holders or Trademark Agents can select all (using button “Select all”) or select some (using checkboxes) Trademarks that need to be renewed. After selection of the Trademarks, the user clicks the “Renew” button to initiate the renewal process for the selected Trademarks.

Upon renewal, Trademark Holders or Trademark Agents will be able to change the duration of the consecutive Registration Period for Trademark Records.

Upon submission of the Trademark Records to be renewed, the Trademark Holder’s or Trademark Agent’s Prepayment Account is checked to see if sufficient funds are available to renew the selected Trademark Records. In case no sufficient funds are available to renew all selected Trademark Records, Trademark Records are renewed in a serial way until the Prepayment Account no longer has sufficient funds to renew the next Trademark Records. The Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent is advised to increase its Prepayment Account.

There is no maximum amount of domain name labels that can be linked to a Trademark Record within a single payment transaction. Upon registration of a Trademark Record, the Trademark Holder has the possibility to select additional domain names that can be associated with the Trademark Record, based on the Domain Name Matching Rules. Up to 10 domain names are included in the price of Trademark Registration. For each additional domain name label that is associated with the Trademark Registration, an additional cost will be calculated to the Trademark Holder.

Trademark Holders using their credit card will be able to record multiple trademarks, but they will be limited to 10 Trademark Registrations including the multiple domain names per payment transaction.

In case no sufficient funds are available to renew all selected Trademark Records, Trademark Records are renewed in a serial way until the Prepayment Account no longer has sufficient funds to renew the next Trademark Records.

A Trademark Record will not be accepted for registration once the Prepayment Account does not contain sufficient funds to pay the applicable registration fee. You can refill your account at any time by accessing your profile page.

Access to the test environment for the API is possible once you are a registered Trademark Agent. If you wish to receive a username and password, please e-mail api@trademark-clearinghouse.com with your Agent ID and the IP address you wish to use to connect to the test environment.

It is indeed possible to open a Prepayment Account as a Trademark Agent or Trademark Holder and only submit Trademark Records later on. The deposited funds remain at your disposal the entire duration of your contract. The remaining amount will be refunded to you upon terminating your contract.

The contracting party should be the person who is entering into a contract with the Clearinghouse.

After you've submitted your user registration details, the Clearinghouse has to check these data against the Specially Designated Nationals list. This check can take up to 48 hours.

Please make sure that your mail server as well as your email client accept incoming mail traffic from @trademark-clearinghouse.com addresses. If not, then our confirmation mail could end up in our spam folder or get rejected by your mail server.

After you've submitted the registration form, the Clearinghouse has to perform two checks:

1) Check your VAT number if applicable.
2) Check you are not on the Specially Designated Nationals list (SDN list)

PLEASE NOTE: these checks can take up to 48 hours. You will receive an email confirmation immediately afterwards.

No, a Trademark Holder can record as many Trademarks Records as he/she wants within the Clearinghouse without having to pass through a Trademark Agent. The only limit - as to the number of Trademark records a Trademark Holder can submit -  is the number of trademarks records submitted per credit card transaction. The limit is ten (10) trademark recordings per credit card transaction.

The Trademark Holder can submit more than ten (10) trademark records provided that he/she does so in another credit card transaction. The Trademark Holder can also decide to opt for a Prepayment Account instead of the payment per credit card. You can find more information about the payment options available in the Fee Structure Summary available in the Download section.

You need to obtain the authorization of the Trademark Holder(s) on behalf of whom you are acting per Trademark Holder.

Yes, all interactions with the Clearinghouse will be done through the Clearinghouse User Interface, or the Automated Interface if applicable. In addition only electronically submitted documents will be accepted.

There is no time limit as to when you can submit your Trademark Record in the Clearinghouse. Nevertheless, in order to obtain Sunrise Services, you will need to submit a Trademark Record prior to the launch of the TLD in which you want to register your domain name during the Sunrise period.

There is no closing date foreseen. The Clearinghouse will be open as of the 26^th of March 2013. As of this moment you will be able to register yourself with the Clearinghouse and to submit trademark records.

It can take some time to verify a trademark record. Consequently, waiting too long to submit your trademark records could imply that you may miss a sunrise registration period for a specific new gTLD.

Notification are be sent by to the email address you provide in the contracting information part when registering with the Clearinghouse.

No, every notification and all communication is sent to the email address of the Trademark Agent.

No, you will only be allowed to provide one single email address in order to receive any notifications.

Trademark Agents have access to the Advanced Fee Structure only, which means that you will only be able to opt for the Prepayment Account.

 Yes, as a Trademark Agent you will be receiving all the notifications on behalf of your Trademark Holder(s). The Trademark Holders acting through a Trademark Agent will not receive notifications directly from the Clearinghouse.

No, you do not need to be an ICANN accredited registrar to register with the Clearinghouse.

We refer to the provision as laid down in the Terms and Conditions for Agents as published on our website.

Yes, registering as a Trademark Agent will enable you to handle the trademark portfolio of several Trademark Holders through a unique Clearinghouse account.

You can register (create an account) as Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent with the Clearinghouse as of the 26^th of March 2013.

Yes, assignees are allowed to submit TM in the Clearinghouse. They fall into the category of Trademark holders. They will need to provide an assignee declaration.

Yes, licensees are allowed to submit TM in the Clearinghouse. They fall into the category of Trademark holders. They will need to provide a license declaration.

No, Trademark Agents are also admissible to submit a trademark record on behalf of the Trademark owner. Trademark Agents are entities or individuals authorized to act on behalf of the Trademark owner who have agreed to the Clearinghouse Validation Terms and Conditions for Trademark Agents.

Trademark Agents who register for a Prepayment Account automatically receive discounts as they earn Status Points. Registering as a Trademark Agent is a simple five step process:

1. Fill out the Trademark Agent application form on our secured website https://secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com . This link will be accessible once the Clearinghouse has launched on March 26.
2. The Clearinghouse will verify the data you entered:
   1. Check whether you or your company does not appear on the Specially Designated Nationals list (SDN list) *
   2. Check your VAT number if applicable
3. If step 2 was successful, you will receive a confirmation e-mail, containing your user name and temporary password.
4. The first time you login, we ask you to choose a new and final password to replace the temporary one. You can now download two documents:
   1. - your personalized Trademark Agent contract. Please print and sign this and then upload it again.
   2. - the pro-forma invoice, listing all the payment details needed for your wire transfer of the prepayment deposit.
5. Once we’ve received the signed contract as well as the prepayment deposit, you’re ready to go!

*As part of its enforcement efforts, The US Office of Foreign Assets Control publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.

The Clearinghouse will open March 26 . From that day on, you can register as a Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent. After verification, you can start submitting you trademark records.

You can sign up on our website. After going through the acceptance process, a minimum deposit of 15,000 USD is required to activate the Prepayment Account. These funds are immediately and entirely available for recording trademarks. There is no limit on the number of trademarks that may be recorded, as long as the account has sufficient funds. (Only wire transfers are accepted, and the wiring party will bear any applicable or associated transaction and currency conversion costs.)

As stated in the proof of use memo as published on the ICANN website and as mentioned in the Clearinghouse Guidelines, a link to website is insufficient.

All documents need to be provided electronically.

Since you will be charged per trademark record you submitted regardless of the final decision taken by the verification agents of the Clearinghouse, you will be charged even if your trademark record is deemed invalid.

There are three types of trademarks accepted in the Clearinghouse, and depending on the type of the mark and the country of protection we will do a check against the online databases or perform an in-depth analysis. Find out more about the verification process in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available in our Download section.

This depends of the number of verifications requested at the time your trademark record is submitted and of whether all provided information is correct. Find out more about the verification process in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

Yes, if you submit a registered trademark in the Clearinghouse and wish to benefit from the sunrise services, you will have to submit a single sample of proof of use as well as a signed declaration of proof of use. You can find more information concerning the proof of use in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

Trademarks subject to successful cancellation or invalidation procedures cannot be accepted in the Clearinghouse. You can find more information on the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

Trademarks subject to successful rectification proceedings cannot be accepted in the Clearinghouse. You can find more information on the Clearinghouse eligibility requirements in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

For the moment, you can submit (1) registered trademarks, (2) court validated marks and (3) marks protected by treaty or statute in the Clearinghouse. In the future, the Clearinghouse may agree upon request of the registries to accept and verify “other types of marks”. This is however currently not the case.

No, it is not possible to register a domain name matching your trademark during a Sunrise period without the SMD file (Signed Mark Data). This file provided to you by the Clearinghouse once your trademark record has been verified.

If you register a Trademark Record for a period of three (3) or five (5) years, it will be re-verified annually. In the event that the provided information is incorrect or no longer up-to-date a notification will be sent out to the Trademark Holder or Trademark Agent.

Proof of use is only mandatory when you would like to obtain Sunrise Services for a registered trademark. The option to obtain Sunrise Services may be selected at any time.