Marks protected by statute or treaty

For marks seeking protection under statute or treaty, the relevant statute or treaty must be in effect at the time of submission to the Clearinghouse. This category includes various forms, including geographical indications and designations of origin.

Ineligibility Criteria

The following marks won’t be considered for inclusion in the Clearinghouse under this category:

• Trademark applications or applications for mark protection
• Well-known or famous trademarks (unless also protected by statute or treaty)
• US state trademarks
• International trademark applications via the Madrid system
• Registered trademarks subject to successful invalidation, cancellation, opposition, or rectification proceedings

Alternative Eligibility

While not categorized under marks protected by statute or treaty, the following may be eligible under another trademark type:

• Registered trademarks
• Unregistered (including common law) trademarks
• Court-validated marks
• Other marks constituting intellectual property

Sunrise Eligibility

Note that, for sunrise eligibility, a mark must be specifically protected by a statute or treaty currently in effect and effective on or before June 26, 2008.

Additional Exclusions

The following, even if protected by statute or treaty, will not be accepted by the Clearinghouse:

• Marks with a top-level extension, such as “example.org” or “example.com”
• Marks starting with or containing a “dot” (.) (e.g., “.example”)

  This prohibition does not apply to registered trademarks including a “dot” when the dot functions as:

   

  • Punctuation (e.g., period)
  • Abbreviation
  • Figurative part of the registered trademark
• Marks lacking letters, words, numerals, or DNS-valid characters
• Marks protected under a statute or treaty applicable only to a specific region, city, or state