Emmanuel Gillet

Domain Name Management

Some tips for a domain name portfolio management strategy in pandemic times

Crises open windows for cybersquatters, and pandemics are no exception: during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, Hoffmann-La Roche fought waves of 'Tamiflu' registrations; Covid-19 replayed the scenario. The article draws on four recent UDRP cases: Gilead, which had not registered gilead.health despite the extension's obvious relevance, saw patients redirected to dubious sites; Sanofi faced plaquenil.club registered at the height of the media frenzy; Bayer had never secured resochin.com and resochin.net before opportunists did; and Projetclub saw its 'Easy Breath' mask name declined across a string of new gTLDs. Two-part strategy: audit the portfolio so that trademarks are covered under the relevant extensions — for sectoral TLDs like .HEALTH, preventive registration is cheap insurance — and maintain real-time monitoring with rapid enforcement for generic extensions where exhaustive coverage is impossible. Above all, vigilance must peak whenever a treatment or product suddenly enters the news.

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Domain Name Management

.music sunrise period. The wait is over!

Announced for more than a decade and long delayed, the .MUSIC extension finally arrives: its sunrise period opens on 11 August 2023 and runs until 13 November 2023, before general availability. During this window, trademark owners whose marks are recorded in the Trademark Clearinghouse can register the corresponding names with priority. For the music industry — artists, labels, publishers, venues, platforms — but also for any brand exposed to musical uses of its name, the advice is the usual one: secure the key names during the sunrise period rather than pay later, through negotiation or proceedings, for names captured by opportunists. IP Twins can assist right holders with these registrations.

New gTLDs · Online Brand Protection

1 August 2023

Initially published on iptwins.com

Domain Name Management

.WATCHES domain names: be on time!

Identity Digital — born of the merger of Afilias and Donuts, and the largest gTLD registry operator — is launching the .WATCHES extension: sunrise period from 28 March to 27 May 2023, reserved for trademarks recorded in the Trademark Clearinghouse, before opening to the public. For watchmaking houses and retailers, an extension that says the product in a word deserves consideration in the portfolio — both to build addresses that speak to customers and to deprive counterfeiters, whose appetite for the sector is well documented, of names combining a brand with .WATCHES. Be on time: registering during the sunrise period costs little; recovering a squatted name later costs much more. IP Twins accompanies brand owners through the operation.

New gTLDs · Online Brand Protection

20 March 2023

Initially published on iptwins.com

Third-Party Liability

Online Trademark Infringement: When the Corporate Veil Does Not Shield the Director

In a judgment of 7 October 2026 (No. 25-14.170), designated for publication in the Bulletin and the Rapport, the Commercial Chamber of the French Court of Cassation clarified when the manager of an SARL may be held personally liable for trademark infringement committed through the company's e-commerce website. First, the civil court must determine whether the acts personally attributed to the manager constitute the intentional criminal offence of trademark infringement under Article L. 716-10 of the French Intellectual Property Code. If they do, the offence is misconduct separable from corporate duties under Article L. 223-22 of the Commercial Code, and no prior criminal conviction is needed. Second, the manager's refusal to ensure compliance with a court order requiring the company to produce accounting and commercial documents is itself separable misconduct, even though the order was addressed to the company and not to him. Rights holders thus have two independent routes to the director's personal liability.

Counterfeiting · Court Litigation · Online Brand Protection · Trademark Law

26 October 2026

Initially published on iptwins.com

Domain Name Governance

Rush and Distribution: A Sector Map of the 2026 Reveal Day

On 7 October 2026, ICANN published the applications filed in the first new gTLD round since 2012: 1,614 primary applications for 986 distinct strings, submitted by 480 entities. That is fewer than in 2012 (1,930 applications for 1,409 strings), with evaluation fees now at USD 227,000, but the round is more contested: 55% of applications face a competitor, against 39% in 2012. Assigning each string to a sector reveals a demand driven by digital technology. Artificial intelligence is the most fiercely disputed sector, with .AGENT drawing thirteen applicants, and the leading AI companies have secured their own names. Brands have responded with restraint: 333 .BRAND applications, one in five, only nine of them French. Geographic names, so prominent in 2012, have almost disappeared, while niches such as health and the professions are emerging, including a community application for .AVOCAT. For trademark owners, the priority is to screen the list before the objection period opens on 17 November 2026.

Artificial Intelligence · Domain Name System · dotBrand · ICANN · New gTLDs · Online Brand Protection · Trademark Law

9 October 2026

Initially published on iptwins.com

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Article Information

Author

Emmanuel Gillet

Publication Date

26 June 2020

Jurisdiction

Topics

Cybersquatting · Domain Name Monitoring · Online Brand Protection · UDRP

Industry

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals

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