Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, if a Registry Operator reserves a domain name from registration in accordance with the Registry Agreement and thereafter releases for allocation or registration the reserved domain name at any time prior to the start date of the Claims Period, the domain name must be treated like any other domain name for any applicable Sunrise Period, Limited Registration Period, Launch Program or Claims Period. However, if the domain name is released for allocation or registration at any time following the start date of the Claims Period, the domain name must be subject to the Claims Service for a period of 90 calendar days following the date it was released (even if the domain name is released following completion of the scheduled Claims Period), provided that this requirement will expire if the Trademark Clearinghouse (or any ICANN-designated successor) is no longer in operation.

General Availability begins on the first day that domain names are generally made available to all registrants that are qualified to register domain names in the TLD. A “landrush period” that meets the above description would be considered General Availability. If, however, the “landrush period” has eligibility requirements that limit the availability of domain names to registrants satisfying certain conditions, then the “landrush period” would be considered a Limited Registration Period and not the beginning of General Availability. Because a Limited Registration Period cannot overlap with the Claims Period, it also cannot overlap with General Availability. Registry Operators are encouraged to be clear in defining their periods to aid the Community’s understanding and to avoid questions about compliance with regards to the TMCH Requirements.

No. Only registrars may query the CNIS.

A Registry Operator who indicated that its TLD would be a geographic TLD can apply to conduct an Approved Launch Program just like any other Registry Operator. In addition, if geographic TLD Registry Operators and representatives of the Intellectual Property Constituency recommend to ICANN the creation of a registration program that sets forth a defined list of labels or categories of labels that geographic TLDs may Allocate or register to third parties prior to or during a Sunrise Period, and ICANN accepts and implements such recommendation, there will be a presumption of approval for geographic TLDs that thereafter apply for that program. However, ICANN will still review the application and may reject the application if ICANN reasonably determines that such requested registration program could contribute to consumer confusion or the infringement of intellectual property rights. Neither the IPC nor any Registry Operator is required to have these discussions, but Registry Operators will always be allowed to individually apply to conduct an Approved Launch Program as discussed above.

If a Registry Operator applies to ICANN in order to conduct an Approved Launch Program that would implement programs set forth in its application for the TLD, there will be a presumption that the Launch Program will be allowed as long as it was set forth in the application for the TLD. This shall allow for meaningful review and public comment of the plan at the time the application is posted. A Registry Operator who seeks the benefit of this presumption must state with specificity the relevant portions of its TLD application that describe the launch program as well and detail how they applied for the Approved Launch Program application compared to the launch program described in its TLD application. ICANN will review the Approved Launch Program application, as well as any public comments submitted in response to the program described in the TLD application, and may reject the Approved Launch Application if ICANN reasonably determines that such requested registration program could contribute to consumer confusion or the infringement of intellectual property rights.

Yes. Pursuant to Section 2.2.4 of the RPM requirements as provided by ICANN, the only way a Registry Operator can Allocate or register domain names to a third party prior to the Sunrise Period is through an Approved Launch Program or, if made available, a Qualified Launch Program. In order to offer an Approved Launch Program, a Registry Operator must apply to ICANN and have its application approved prior to offering the Approved Launch Program. For more information, please ICANN's website

ICANN has developed a process for the submission and processing of applications for Approved Launch Programs. Any Registry Operator’s application to offer an Approved Launch Program may be published for public comment at ICANN’s discretion.

A Registry Operator may, after signing its Registry Agreement and until the start date of its Sunrise Period, apply to ICANN for approval to conduct an Approved Launch Program.

Under the New gTLD Collision Occurrence Management Plan, no domain names may be activated in a TLD until 120 days after the Registry Agreement for the TLD is signed. It is possible that a Sunrise Period may commence prior to the expiration of this 120-day period. In this situation, Sunrise Registrations may be registered or allocated to Sunrise Eligible Rights Holders during the Sunrise Period, but cannot be activated until the 120-day period has expired. The same prohibition on activation would also apply to any Qualified Launch Program or Approved Launch Program.

Registry Operators may accept applications for the same domain name from different Sunrise-Eligible Rights Holders. If an auction is used to define the ultimate registrant of that domain name to one of the Sunrise-Eligible Rights Holders, and the domain name is withheld to such Sunrise-Eligible Rights Holder, thus not allocating nor registering the domain name to registrants in a Limited Registration Period or General Registration, then the auction methodology complies with Section 3.2.4.

In a Start-Date Sunrise, a Registry Operator may allocate or register domain names on a first-come, first-served basis or any other time-based allocation or registration process, in addition to any other manner of allocation or registration they desire. In an End-Date Sunrise, a Registry Operator must not allocate or register domain names prior to the end of the Sunrise Period and must not employ a first-come, first-served or any other time-based allocation or registration process.

The general rule is that domain names may only be registered during a Sunrise Period to Sunrise-Eligible Rights Holders who have a valid SMD file issued by the Trademark Clearinghouse. Unless the Registry Operator has received ICANN’s approval for an Approved Launch Program or ICANN implements a Qualified Launch Program as described in the TMCH Requirements, the Registry Operator may not register or allocate domain names to non-Sunrise-Eligible Rights Holders prior to the completion of the Sunrise Period to non-Sunrise-Eligible Rights Holders. Note that an allocation of a domain name includes any allocation, designation, assignment, or other form of earmarking of a domain name to a potential domain name registrant.

Yes, all Registry Operators must offer a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP), which will allow challenges to Sunrise Registrations related to Registry Operator’s Aallocation and registration policies. This includes on the grounds that the domain names that were registered but do not match the trademark record on which the Sunrise-Eligible Rights Holder based its his/her Sunrise Registration. Because each TLD’s Sunrise Period registration policies can be different, the Registry Operator has discretion when designing its SDRP. A complete SDRP must be included in the TLD Startup Information.

During a Sunrise Period, a Registry Operator may apply restrictions related to the underlying rights of a trademark record as long as those restrictions are related to the purpose of the TLD. For example, if the purpose of a TLD was to serve a particular region, the Registry Operator could require that the trademark record be registered in that jurisdiction in order to be eligible for the Sunrise Period. However, if having a trademark from any jurisdiction meets the eligibility requirements to register a domain name in a subsequent registration period, the subsequent registration period eligibility requirements may be seen as evidence that the jurisdiction restriction in the Sunrise Period was not actually related to the purpose of the TLD.

All registrations during a Sunrise Period must include a valid SMD file. Additionally, a Registry Operator may (i) apply restrictions related to the underlying rights of a trademark related to the purpose of the TLD, (ii) specify requirements that are not related to the scope of mark rights, (iii) require the SMD file information to match the applicable Whois record, and (iv) impose reasonable date restrictions related to the date on which the trademark was registered, validated or protected in order to prevent gaming of the Sunrise Period. Any other registration restrictions must be imposed consistently throughout any Limited Registration Period and General Registration.

Please send an e-mail to marketing[at]trademark-clearinghouse[dot]com with the information that you wish to publish.

Registrars can only query the CNIS for domain names that have been applied for by a potential domain name registrant. Registrars are prohibited from querying the CNIS for any other purpose.

The Trademark Notice must be provided by the registrar to the potential domain name registrant in English. Additionally, to best serve its potential domain name registrants, registrars should provide the Trademark Notice to potential domain name registrants in the language of the registrant’s registration agreement.

The specific technical obligations that registrars must satisfy when processing Claims Registrations is available at http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-lozano-tmch-func-spec sections 5.3.4 and 5.3.5. In general, Registrars must verify domain name availability with the Registry Operator and obtain a CNIS lookup key if the label is covered by a trademark record, registrars must query the CNIS to obtain Claims Notice Information (see section 6.5 of http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-lozano-tmch-func-spec section), use the Claims Notice Information to populate the Trademark Notice (see Exhibit A of http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/about/trademark-clearinghouse/rpm-requireme...), clearly and conspicuously display the Trademark Notice to the potential domain name registrant and inquire as to whether the potential domain name registrant wishes to continue with the registration. The Trademark Notice must be provided by the registrar at the time of potential registration in real time, without cost to the prospective domain name registrant, and must be in the form specified in the Trademark Notice Form (an example of which is attached to Exhibit B of the TMCH Requirements). The Trademark Notice must require an affirmative confirmation by the potential domain name registrant to continue with the registration.

Please submit your question to IBM.

During the sunrise of a new TLD, you may go to a Registrar to request the registration of a domain name (e.g. exampleone.example or example-one.example). The registration process is going to be similar to the process you are used to with your favorite Registrar, but at some point in the process, the Registrar will ask you for your SMD file. The Registrar may require you to upload the SMD file (similar to the process to upload an attachment on a web mail provider) or to copy/paste the contents of the SMD file (select all text, copy and paste) into a text box.

Yes, you must be an ICANN accredited registrar to register within the Clearinghouse.

The Trademark Clearinghouse Certificate Authority (TMCH-CA), operated by ICANN, provides digital certificates to the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), including the TradeMark Validator (TMV) certificate. These certificates are essential for signing and encrypting the Signed Mark Data (SMD) files, validating their origin from the Trademark Clearinghouse and ensuring ownership heritage. All SMD files generated by the Trademark Clearinghouse are signed under the TMCH-CA. When a third party, such as a registry or registrar, receives an SMD file, they can cryptographically decrypt it and verify its authenticity. Additionally, they can confirm that the signed content has not been altered since signing.

Renewal of these certificates is necessary to uphold standard security practices. It involves changing the Certificate Authority periodically and ensuring encryption levels meet current standards. Specifically, the TMCH-CA is renewed every ten years, while the TMV renewal occurs every five years.

The most recent renewal occurred at 18:00 UTC on February 15, 2023. As a result, all active SMD files were revoked and automatically regenerated within a maximum of 24 hours. The availability of the new SMD files gradually resumed after the renewal. Since the previous SMD files no longer met the new standards, Trademark Holders and Agents are required to obtain new SMD files from the TMCH platform after the new TMCH-CA and TMV certificates are in use.

Kindly note that it is possible to download the new SMD file in the web interface:

The Qualified Launch Program is intended to provide a mechanism for Registry Operators to register a limited number of names to third parties to promote their TLDs prior to the Sunrise Period, while maintaining safeguards against intellectual property infringement.

According to the QLP Addendum, if a domain name matches a label in the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), the domain name may be registered to a Sunrise-Eligible Rights Holder, as defined in the TMCH Requirements. If a domain name does not match a label in the Trademark Clearinghouse, the domain name may be registered in a Qualified Launch Program to any third party.

For more information please refer to the ICANN website.

You need to first consult the new dot rule in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines. If your trademark falls within the new dot rule requirements, you can send a service request to the customer support to re-correct the mark.

Trademarks registered according to an accelerated procedure, such as in the Benelux, will be accepted in the Trademark Clearinghouse if they meet the verification requirements of these Guidelines, but in the event these trademarks have been submitted to the Clearinghouse before the examination of the absolute grounds by the relevant trademark office and the end of the opposition period, these trademarks will be verified again by the verification agents of the Trademark Clearinghouse at the end of the opposition period. In the event the trademark should no longer be protected at the time of the re-verification, it will be deemed invalid by the Trademark Clearinghouse.

No, the Claims Period lasts during the first 90 days of General Availability. A Limited Registration Period is by definition a registration period in which the Registry Operator has imposed additional registration restrictions beyond the registration policies of the TLD’s General Availability. Thus, a Limited Registration Period cannot occur at the same time as the Claims Period/General Availability.

A Limited Registration Period is any registration period between the end of the Sunrise Period and the start of General Availability period. Thus, a Limited Registration Period has must have some registration restrictions that limits domain names from being generally available to all registrants that are qualified to register domain names within the TLD. Any registration during a Limited Registration Period must be subject to the Claims Service in the same manner as the registrations registered or allocated during the Claims Period.

A Start-Date Sunrise Period must stay open for at least 30 days and cannot commence prior to the expiration of the required 30-day notice period. An End-Date Sunrise Period must stay open for at least 60 days. In either case, a Sunrise Period must not begin until ICANN has accepted the Registry Operator’s TLD Startup Information and the Registry Operator has been assigned a Sunrise Period start date.

Yes. A Registry Operator may not process registrations of domain names during a Sunrise Period unless the registration is accompanied by a valid Signed Mark Data (SMD) file issued by the Trademark Clearinghouse.

The Trademark Clearinghouse in itself is not a trademark office. If you want your trademark to become a registered trademark, it is best to contact your local trademark office or agent to find out how. You can only include your brand in the Trademark Clearinghouse after it is officially registered as a trademark. Apart from registered trademarks, the Clearinghouse also accepts marks protected by treaty or statute, or court-validated marks.

The expected response time will vary depending on the number of customer support tickets submitted at the same time and the type and gravity of the issue submitted. It can take up to 10 days.

We only share information to our Trademark Agents and Trademark Holders regarding their own portfolio

Our Sunrise service allows tademark holders an advance opportunity to register domain names corresponding to their marks before domain names are generally available to the public. New gTLD registries are required to offer a Sunrise period for at least 30 days.

The Trademark Claims period follows the Sunrise period and runs for at least the first 90 days of an initial operating period of the General Availability period. During the Trademark Claims period, anyone attempting to register a domain name matching a mark that is recorded registered and verified in the Trademark Clearinghouse will receive a notification displaying the relevant mark information.

If the notified party goes ahead and registers the domain name, the Trademark Clearinghouse will send a notice to those trademark holders with matching records in the Clearinghouse, informing them that someone has registered the domain name.

Trademarks subjected to successful cancellation or invalidation procedures are not eligible for acceptance into the Clearinghouse. For further details on eligibility requirements, please refer to the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines provided on this website.

Trademarks subjected to successful rectification proceedings are ineligible for acceptance into the Clearinghouse. For further details on eligibility requirements, please refer to the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines provided 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.

No, State trademarks are not eligible for registration 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 Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines.

No, trademarks that 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 Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

Deloitte will performs the verification of the correctness and completeness of the submitted trademark record information (the assessment of whether trademark records meet the eligibility requirements as stated by the Trademark Clearinghouse). Deloitte also provides the Clearinghouse User Interface. Kyndryl (formerly IBM) is the provider of the central database in which all the trademark information will be stored.

At this 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.

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

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”.

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

Yes, every new gTLD is required by ICANN to organize a Sunrise Period of at least 30 days before domain names are offered to the general public.

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

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

Please raise a ticket to our dedicated Customer Support system by clicking on "GET SUPPORT" on the TMCH interface or by sending an email to support[at]trademark-clearinghouse[dot]com.

When the POU expiry date is reached, the SMD file can no longer be used for the Sunrise service. Furthermore, if no action is taken 60 days after the POU expiry date, the POU status will automatically change to "expired" and the associated SMD file will be revoked.

Therefore, if you did not renew the POU documentation in time, revalidation of the POU documents is necessary to be eligible for the Sunrise Service.

To do so, a bulk POU revalidation page has been launched on our TMCH web interface. You can access this page by navigating to your TMCH account and clicking on the button "bulk validate POU" at the bottom right of the "Mark overview" page. The possibility to revalidate your POU will only be available in case you have POU documents that are almost 5 years or older.

For further details on the different steps to revalidate your POU documents, please refer to our manual.

As per the ICANN requirements, an update on the Proof Of Use documentation is required once every five years. After 5 years, when the Proof Of Use expiry date is reached, the SMD file can no longer be used for the Sunrise service.

If no action is taken 60 days after the Proof Of Use expiry date, the POU status will automatically change to "expired" and the associated SMD file will be revoked.

In case you, as a Trademark Agent or Holder, has trademark records for which the POU will expire within 120 days, a bulk POU revalidation page will become available. You can access this page by navigating to your TMCH account and clicking on the button "bulk validate POU" at the bottom right of the "Mark overview" page. Here, you will be able to select the trademark records for which the POU documents are:

For further details on the different steps to revalidate your POU documents, please refer to our manual.

We kindly refer to the following links to download the required templates of the signed declaration of POU:

Trademark Agent

Trademark Holder

As per the ICANN requirements, an update on the POU documentation is required once every five years. As of the POU expiry date, the SMD file can no longer be used for our Sunrise service. Therefore, the Proof Of Use (signed declaration and sample) will expire 5 years after it has been submitted and will need to be resubmitted to maintain a valid POU. In case your documents are (almost) older than 5 years, you will be required to re-verify the validity and actuality of the uploaded sample and declaration of use.

To do so, a bulk POU revalidation page has been launched on our TMCH web interface. You can access this page by navigating to your TMCH account and clicking on the button "bulk validate POU" at the bottom right of the "Mark overview" page. The possibility to revalidate your POU will only be available in case you have POU documents that are almost 5 years or older. Please note that if no action is taken 60 days after the POU expiry date, the POU status will automatically change to ‘EXPIRED’, the pop-up message will be removed and the associated SMD file will be revoked.

For further details on the different steps to revalidate your POU documents, please refer to our manual.

In case you have any further questions related to the revalidation of the POU, feel free to contact us directly by raising a ticket to our dedicated Customer Support system by clicking on "GET SUPPORT" on the TMCH interface or by sending an email to support[at]trademark-clearinghouse[dot]com.

If the trademark holder of the registered trademark opts in for the Sunrise service, the Proof of Use submitted by the Trademark Agent or Holder will be verified. When examining the sample of Proof of Use submitted by the Trademark Agent or Holder, it will be verified that the sample submitted communicates to a consumer to distinguish the product or services of one from those of another.

Accordingly, examples of acceptable evidence would include items from either of the following categories:

1. Labels, tags, or containers from a product.

2. Advertising and marketing materials (including brochures, pamphlets, catalogs, product manuals, displays or signage, press releases, screenshots, or social media marketing materials).

An uploaded and verified Proof Of Use is valid for 5 years and can be uploaded in 2 separate files, the actual sample of Proof of Use and a signed declaration of Proof of Use.

If you have chosen not to upload Proof of Use when the trademark record was submitted you can add it later on by clicking on the trademark record in the "Mark overview", navigating to the "Proof Of Use" field, and selecting "Add proof of use".

Adding Proof Of Use at a later stage is only possible after the trademark record has been assigned the "verified" status.

As stated in Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines a link to a website is insufficient.

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.

Yes, a screenshot of a website containing the name of the trademark can be accepted as sample of Proof of Use.

Yes, if you submit a registered trademark in the Clearinghouse and wish to benefit from the Sunrise service, 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 Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines available on this website.

As stated in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines, one sample of Proof of Use is sufficient per trademark record.

As stated in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines, one sample of Proof of Use is sufficient per trademark record.

As stated in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines, one sample of Proof of Use is sufficient per trademark record.

As stated in the Trademark Clearinghouse Guidelines, one sample of Proof of Use is sufficient per trademark record.

If you wish to opt-in for the Sunrise Service a Proof of Use for your trademark is required. The Verification of Proof of Use (POU) by the Trademark Clearinghouse is required to qualify for participation in the Sunrise Domain Name Registration processes.

The option of opting in for the related services can be selected at a later stage.

In order to trigger the automated status change for mark records in non-latin script on the OT&E interface, you can use the following number codes for trademark records, POU, UDRP Cases and Labels:

• valid (1000)
• invalid (2000)
• incorrect (3000)

The number codes can also be used for mark records in latin script, but the original triggers will also work. Please refer to the OT&E documentation, in the Downloads section, for more detailed information.

Poll messages are not stored in the poll queue indefinitely. Depending on the age and type of messages, they will be removed from the poll queue and sent via mail to the e-mail address linked to your account. This is a safety mechanism to ensure our API users are kept informed of changes to their trademark records and notifications, should there be an issue with connecting to the API interface.

Poll messages for API users are converted to e-mails under these circumstances:

To connect to the API v2, only 2 modifications are needed once you already have a working client for the API v1:

Port number:

In order to access the API v2 you will need to adjust the port number you connect using TCP/TLS to: "api.trademark-clearinghouse.com:7701" for the PRODUCTION environment and "ote-api.trademark-clearinghouse.com:7701" for the OT&E environment respectively

Header

In order to successfully communicate with the API v2 you will need to change 1 section of the header. For API v1 the header mentions "tmch-1.0", to connect to the API v2 this text needs to be changed to "tmch-1.1" By making these small changes you will already be able to connect to the API v2 and make use of the enhancements. Please be aware that if you would like to submit Abused Domain Name Labels via the API v2 further modifications are necessary. For a detailed overview of the API v2 please refer to: TMCH API2 Documentation & XSD

Yes, you can submit Abused Domain Name Labels via the API.

After your Trademark Agent account has been verified and you have received your credentials for the production environment, you need to request your credentials for the OT&E environment. You can do this by creating a ticket in our dedicated Customer Support System, either by clicking on "GET SUPPORT" on the TMCH interface or by sending an email to support[at]trademark-clearinghouse[dot]com. After receiving your credentials for the OT&E environment, you need to whitelist your IP address in order to access both environments.

The procedure is the same for production and OT&E environment but must be performed on both environments:

Please note that it may take up to 30 minutes before the IP address is whitelisted.

The detailed commands to execute the CREATE command can be found in the API documentation in the Downloads section of our website.

Additionally, if you want to add an IDN label, you will need to convert this label to puny code and use the aLabel(s) in the CREATE command. uLabel is not permitted and will be automatically generated based on the aLabel.

The detailed commands to execute the CREATE command can be found in our documentation on the API commands, available in the Downloads section.

Additionally if you want to create a trademark record with one or multiple labels attached you will need to use the aLabel(s) in the CREATE command, uLabel is not permitted and will be automatically generated based on the aLabel.

Please be aware that changes to trademark records (other than uploading a Proof of Use document or adding/removing labels) are only possible when the trademark record has been assigned the "incorrect" status.

To update the name of a mark, you need to follow the next steps in the exact order and in separate commands:

Please refer to our documentation on the API commands for more detailed information, available in the Downloads section.

In the API, class 46 stands for "Not Applicable" or "N/A". If you have a registered trademark that does not follow the Nice classification, you can indicate this by using class 46.

Please be aware that the SMD Inclusion flag can only be set when a Proof of Use document has been uploaded (this can be done at any time except if the Mark record is being verified or is expired).

When enabling or disabling the smdInclusion flag(s) you need to follow the next steps in the exact order, in separate commands:

• Remove the label(s);
• Add the label(s) again with the smdInclusion flags enabled or disabled.

More specifically, to do this please send an update command with a <rem> section to delete the specific label(s) followed by an update <add> command to add the label(s) again with the appropriate flags set.

This procedure is relevant for the API v1. For the API v2 a simple update command can be used.

On the production environment and OT&E, there currently is a limit of 2 connections from the whitelisted IP address linked to your account.

You will be able to retrieve comments added by a validator to your trademark record, via the INFO command. Please refer to our documentation on the API commands for more detailed information, available in the Downloads section.

On the OT&E, the trademark record ID should start with a unique ID formatted in 6 digits left padded with zeros, followed by a string of digits (up to 54 digits) 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 trademark record ID should start with the provided User-id (without the "u" )formatted in 6 digits left padded with zeros, followed by a string of digits (up to 54 digits) and ending in “-1”.

Please refer to our documentation on the API commands for more detailed information, available in the Downloads section.

A URL to generate labels for registered trademarks can be found below:

• secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com/tmch/public/labels?name=<trademark name*>&jurisdiction=<jurisdiction*> 

For marks protected under statute or treaty and court validated marks, the URL can be found below:

• secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com/tmch/public/labels?name=<trademark name*>&country=<country*> 

For example: https://secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com/tmch/public/labels?name=test@test&country=US will generate:

• testtest
• test-test
• testattest

If your trademark contains an IDN character you will have to enter the puny code version of the label in the API create commands. You can use the following url in order get a preview of the puny code versions labels that would be accepted for a trademark:

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

• secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com/tmch/public/labels?name=<trademark name*>&jurisdiction=<jurisdiction*>&enc=a 

For marks protected under statute or treaty and court validated marks can be found below:

• secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com/tmch/public/labels?name=<trademark name*>&country=<country code*>&enc=a 

For example: https://secure.trademark-clearinghouse.com/tmch/public/labels?name=tést@test&country=US&enc=a will generate:

• xn--tsttest-bya
• xn--tst-test-b1a
• xn--tstattest-b4a

*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 website's download section.

Please refer to our documentation on the API commands for detailed information, available in the Downloads section.

You can retrieve SMD files with the special INFO command as described in the API Documentation available on our website.

The actual code for the polling commands can be found in the API documentation available in the Downloads section of our website.

Polling will allow you to receive and acknowledge messages regarding the following events:

• Notifications on changes;
• Notifications on claims;
• Notifications on SMD creation;
• Additional: watermark messages.

Notifications contain the following elements:

• A counter that shows how many poll messages are in your queue;
• The ID of the current message (the message that is displayed);
• The POLL messages, each preceded by the message type unique identifier:
  • 102 Proof of use (POU) is expired
  • 103 Proof of use (POU) has been verified and approved
  • 104 Proof of use (POU) has not been approved and invalidated
  • 105 Proof of use (POU) is not approved. Further attention needed
  • 107 Mark certificate expired
  • 123 Mark record has been verified and approved
  • 124 Mark record is not approved. Further attention needed
  • 126 Mark record has not been approved and invalidated
  • 127 Mark record has not been corrected within 20 days and invalidated.
  • 134 Exception: validator still needs more info to approve mark
  • 137 Mark record expired
  • 138 Mark record has been deactivated
  • 146 Correction period expired
  • 148 Mark record has been deactivated
  • 154 Exception : user request to re-edit after changes
  • 164 Exception : mark record can be re-edited
  • 190 POU will expire soon ($d days notice)
  • 191 Mark certificate will expire soon ($d days notice)
  • 196 Warning : Mark record about to be invalidated due to INCORRECT status time-out
  • 197 Your mark record is about to expire ($d days notice)
  • 199 Mark record transferred out/SMD has been revoked
  • 210 The domain name [$dn] was registered during sunrise
  • 220 The domain name [$dn] was registered during claims period
  • 230 The domain name [$dn] has been activated
  • 240 The domain name [$dn] has been registered in the Qualified Launch Program
  • 251 The variant name [$dn] has been activated
  • 310 SMD has been created
  • 320 SMD has been regenerated
  • 330 SMD has been revoked
  • 400 Account status has gone below watermark level ($level)
  • 500 UDRP/Court case status change

• The ID of the Trademark Record the poll message is referring to;
• The name of the Mark Record the poll message is referring to.

If the current poll message has been processed, you will need to send an acknowledgement. In the acknowledgement command you will need to use the ID of the current message, in order to de-queue the message and receive the next message.

In addition to the abovementioned notifications, a poll request can also provide you with a “watermark” message, if your pre-paid amount has gone below $1000.

Watermark messages contain the following elements:

• A counter that shows how many poll messages are in your queue;
• The ID of the current message (the message that is displayed);
• A message preceded by the message type unique identifier: “400 Account status has gone below watermark level”

You will also have to de-queue this message with an acknowledgement command in order to receive the next message.

Polling is available on both the production and OT&E environment.

In addition to this, the API v2 also automatically adds the number of poll messages pending in the responses that the API sends out.

Yes, access to the test (OT&E) environment for API is possible once you are a registered Trademark Clearinghouse Agent.

After your account has been verified, you can request your OT&E credentials by raising a Support ticket on our dedicated Customer Support System. To do this, click on "GET SUPPORT" on the TMCH interface or send an email to support[at]trademark-clearinghouse[dot]com. You will receive your OT&E credentials and the necessary URLs to access both the OT&E web interface and the OT&E API interface.

Please refer to our detailed manual on how to use the OT&E environment.

Please see the API documentation in our Downloads section for more information on how documents need to be sent through the API.