EURid has been approached by a number of people objecting to the granting of domain names for generic names, which have been applied for (and accepted) during Sunrise.

First of all we would like to point out that when referring to trademarks, there is no such thing as a generic trademark. So-called generic names are often well known trademarks or are protected by other intellectual property rights eg. “apple”, “die welt” and “time” to name just a few.

EURid is obliged to adhere to and implement the Public Policy Rules for .eu names, as decided upon by the member states and the European Commission in the regulation EC 874/2004, which give holders of prior rights a possibility to register .eu domain names during the Sunrise phase before .eu is opened for general registration. Holders of trademarks are one clearly defined group that is eligible to apply during Sunrise. This group, of course, also includes holders of trademarks for so called generic words.

EURid cannot comment on the effectiveness of the trademark laws and the work of the trademark offices in Europe, nor can we remark on the EC regulation which the member states had the opportunity to comment on.

Therefore, if someone first in line for a domain name can present sufficient documentation proving that they have a prior right for that name, for instance a trademark or a company name, the name will be granted to them.

It has been suggested that the Sunrise rules should have included a cut off date so that trademarks, for instance, needed to be registered before a certain date to be a valid prior right for a Sunrise application. During the preparatory work, extensive consultations between EURid, the validation agent for the phased registration period (PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC), and the intellectual property community took place, in which all aspects of the sunrise rules were discussed, including the implementation of a “registration cut off date” for accepting registered trademarks.

A large majority did not want to accept such a limitation, not only because there is no support for it in the PPR (Public Policy Rules,) but also because it would disadvantage new companies or new initiatives within existing companies. That this would allow some people to register “popular” or “generic” names was considered a minor problem since the requested domain names would still need to be protected by an intellectual property right and the main objective of the Sunrise period i.e. to protect those with a prior right, would certainly be achieved.

However, should anyone want to dispute that a certain person or organisation is the legitimate holder of a so-called generic domain name; there is always the possibility of an ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution).

A Sunrise WHOIS database, showing all applications as well as information about the applicants, is available guaranteeing full transparency to the applicant and the general public.

The Sunrise rules and the implementation of the TLD .eu give equal opportunities to everyone within the limits of the EC regulation.