Frequently Asked Questions - general

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.