Early .pro registration for trade mark owners

RegistryPro, Inc

, the operator of the "soon-to-be-launched" .pro top-level domain is accepting applications from trade mark owners who wish to protect their intellectual property before RegistryPro opens its doors to the professional public in July 2003.

Who is eligible for a .pro?

The .pro domain is intended exclusively for certain self-certified professionals (both individuals and organisations) "who want to differentiate themselves from the dot commoners": although the number of categories of .pro will be extended in future, the professions initially benefiting from the new .pro domain are:

• .med.pro – medical practitioners
• .law.pro – the legal profession
• .cpa.pro – Certified Public Accountants

Although there are restrictions on registrations by non-US licensed professionals, RegistryPro anticipates that it will remove these restrictions in due course and open up the domain by introducing more representative domains such as .avocat.pro, .bar.pro, .recht.pro and .jur.pro.

Sunrise period for trade mark owners

Despite.pro being limited to certain professionals, owners of European Community trade marks or US trade marks which were registered prior to 30 September 2002 may apply to protect their exact trade mark in all or any of the current or future .pro classes (e.g. .law.pro, .med.pro). By reserving an exact trade mark in the .pro domain, trade mark owners can avoid potential trade mark disputes and costly future litigation. The sunrise period for trade mark owners is expected to expire in June 2003.

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Contact

For further information, please contact Susan Barty by telephone on +44 (0)20 7367 2542 or by email at [email protected], Simon Moran by telephone on +44 (0)20 7367 3680 or by e-mail at [email protected], or Lisa Benjamin by telephone on +44 (0)20 7367 2328 or by e-mail at [email protected]