Emmanuel Gillet

Blockchain & Law

Unstoppable Domains and Secret Network Launch .SECRET: A New Era in Secure Digital Identity

Unstoppable Domains and the Secret Network Foundation launched .SECRET, a blockchain extension built on Polygon that combines Web3 identity with privacy engineering. A .SECRET domain replaces complex wallet addresses with a single human-readable identifier covering more than 200 cryptocurrencies, powers customisable digital profiles via UD.me, and plugs into nearly 900 decentralised applications. Secret Network adds its confidentiality layer — advanced encryption, private voting, sealed-bid auctions — while the Unstoppable Messaging protocol provides end-to-end encrypted communication between domain holders. The partners also announced their intention to apply for a branded gTLD before ICANN in 2026, another example of a cryptoTLD seeking its DNS twin. For brand owners, the article underlines a now-familiar lesson: privacy-focused namespaces multiply the venues where trademarks can be imitated, and belong on the monitoring map.

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Blockchain & Law

Web3: New Opportunities and Growing Threats for Brands

Web3 offers brands a double-edged frontier. On the opportunity side, NFTs let houses like Nike and Gucci engage consumers through virtual experiences and authenticated digital goods. On the threat side, anyone can mint an NFT reproducing a trademark — the MetaBirkins litigation (Hermès v. Rothschild) being the emblematic case — and blockchain domains such as .eth or .sol live in a decentralised, minimally regulated space with no equivalent of the UDRP. Litigation remains costly and out of reach for most brands, while decentralisation defeats traditional enforcement and calls for international cooperation. The article closes with a proactive playbook: register trademarks in classes 9 and 42, monitor NFT marketplaces actively, pursue rapid takedowns, and secure blockchain domains before others do — because in Web3, prevention is worth far more than cure.

Counterfeiting · Web3 Domains

11 February 2026

Initially published on iptwins.com

Blockchain & Law

.ROBOT: A CryptoTLD Aiming for Its DNS Twin

Unstoppable Domains announced on 3 November 2025 its intention to apply for the .ROBOT top-level domain in ICANN's 2026 round, in partnership with the 0G Foundation. The ambition: a namespace dedicated to robotics and artificial intelligence operating simultaneously in the traditional DNS and on the 0G blockchain, where a Web3 pre-sale is already live with minting expected in early 2026. The article uses this case to explain the emerging 'twinTLD' model — a blockchain extension seeking its exact double in the DNS to preserve on-chain functionality while gaining Web2 legitimacy. It also anticipates the procedural path ahead: possible competing applications, ICANN evaluations and objections, and a potential last-resort auction. For brand owners, the article recommends defensive registrations, multi-domain blocking mechanisms and closer monitoring of on-chain activity, as Web2 and Web3 identities increasingly need to be managed as one continuum.

ICANN · New gTLDs · Web3 Domains

4 November 2025

Initially published on iptwins.com

Third-Party Liability

Lacoste v Shein: When a Platform Can No Longer Hide Behind Hosting Status

A platform is not one legal object. In Lacoste v Roadget Business Pte. Ltd. and Infinite Styles Services Co. Ltd. (Paris, Pôle 5 ch. 1, 8 July 2026, RG 25/12454), the Court of Appeal refused to let the operators of shein.com shelter behind the hosting exemption of Article 6 of the Digital Services Act: goods “sold by Shein”, Shein labels and packaging, and the Commission’s designation of the service as a very large online platform revealed a hybrid activity, and the characterisation attached not to the platform as a whole but to the role actually played in the disputed transactions. The judgment reaches beyond the twenty offending products. “Lacoste”, typed into the internal search engine, infringes the word marks; “crocodile”, a free word, grounds unfair competition and parasitism. Interim damages rise from €30,000 to €300,000 — the defendants’ own failure to disclose their turnover counting against them — and the measures run across the European Union.

Counterfeiting · Court Litigation · European Digital Law · Marketplace Enforcement · Trademark Law

28 August 2026

Initially published on iptwins.com

Domain Name Law

COSHIELD: The Scope of the UDRP in Trademark Disputes

Not every dispute involving a trade mark and a domain name amounts to cybersquatting. In Polyco Healthline Limited v. David Beatson (WIPO Case No. D2026-1893), the panelist denied the complaint brought against coshield.com, a domain used since 2020 to sell personal protective equipment in the very sector where the complainant has exploited its SHIELD trade mark since 1997, and despite a settlement agreement concluded between the parties in 2021. The decision turns on the moment of acquisition: created in 2014, the domain name appears to have changed hands in May 2020, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the combination of “Co” and “Shield” could describe the business rather than target Polyco. The evidence being “finely balanced”, bad faith was not established. This article examines why trade mark infringement and cybersquatting are two paths that do not necessarily converge.

Cybersquatting · Domain Name Law · Trademark Law · UDRP

23 August 2026

Initially published on iptwins.com

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Article Information

Author

Emmanuel Gillet

Publication Date

30 May 2024

Jurisdiction

Topics

Industry

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