presented by Cloud Registry.
TRADEMARK CLEARINGHOUSE 11 JANUARY 2012 1. PURPOSE OF CLEARINGHOUSE 1.1 The Trademark Clearinghouse is a central repository for information to be authenticated, stored, and disseminated, pertaining to the rights of trademark holders. ICANN will enter into an arms-length contract with service provider or providers, awarding the right to serve as a Trademark Clearinghouse Service Provider, i.e., to accept, authenticate, validate and facilitate the transmission of information related to certain trademarks. The Clearinghouse will be required to separate its two primary functions: (i) authentication and validation of the trademarks in the Clearinghouse; and (ii) serving as a database to provide information to the new gTLD registries to support pre-launch Sunrise or Trademark Claims Services. Whether the same provider could serve both functions or whether two providers will be determined in the tender process. The Registry shall only need to connect with one centralized database to obtain the information it needs to conduct its Sunrise or Trademark Claims Services regardless of the details of the Trademark Clearinghouse Service Provider’s contract(s) with ICANN. Trademark Clearinghouse Service Provider may provide ancillary services, as long as those services and any data used for those services are kept separate from the Clearinghouse database. The Clearinghouse database will be a repository of authenticated information and disseminator of the information to a limited number of recipients. Its functions will be performed in accordance with a limited charter, and will not have any discretionary powers other than what will be set out in the charter with respect to authentication and validation. The Clearinghouse administrator(s) cannot create policy. Before material changes are made to the Clearinghouse functions, they will be reviewed through the ICANN public participation model. Inclusion in the Clearinghouse is not proof of any right, nor does it create any legal rights. Failure to submit trademarks into the Clearinghouse should not be perceived to be lack of vigilance by trademark holders or a waiver of any rights, nor can any negative influence be drawn from such failure. 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 2. SERVICE PROVIDERS 2.1 The selection of Trademark Clearinghouse Service Provider(s) will be subject to predetermined criteria, but the foremost considerations will be the ability to store, authenticate, validate and disseminate the data at the highest level of technical stability