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Pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies open to risk

Less than 2% of registrations had come from cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies.

By Amy-Jo Crowley

Medical, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries may be putting consumers at risk, new research has revealed.

They could be exposing themselves to online trade attacks after failing to sign up to a property protection mechanism led by ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH).

Out of 5,000 registrations received, just 1% of trademarks had come from cosmetic companies, while 0.8% related to pharmaceutical and medical products. And less than 10% came from clothing and footwear.

This means that these businesses would not be aware if third parties used their trademarks to register their web address on new domains, the company said.

Jan Corstens, worldwide project partner at Deloitte, said: "Failing to enter the TMCH and being unaware of who may intend to abuse your trademark in order to potentially market imitation goods or services can have serious consequences.

"Mark holders should not wait until the new gTLDs go live to submit data. Opting to wait may leave trademarks unprotected, as it can take up to 30 days for submissions to be processed."

The research also found that 23% of marks submitted came from scientific and teaching equipment , including lifesaving medical equipment and computer software. Trademarks from advertising or business management accounted for 22% of the registrations, while 16% related to sporting and entertainment.

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TMCH is the only available mechanism that offers trademark protection across every domain extension being launched.

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