Mr. Wu Yangyi, Operating President of China Region of “.SHANGBIAO” Domain Registry, and Mr. Alex Lee, Senior Vice President of International Business of “.SHANGBIAO” Domain Registry

 
The meeting scene of Build Up ".SHANGBIAO" to Help Brands Upgrade

On January 9, 2015, HUYI Group joined forces with ".SHANGBIAO" (dot trademark in Chinese) Domain Registry, a world-famous top level domain operator, to organize an activity around the theme of "Build Up '.SHANGBIAO' to Help Brands Upgrade" in Guangzhou.

It is learned that ".SHANGBIAO" is a top level domain approved and authorized by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ".SHANGBIAO" Domain Registry received a formal approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), allowing the Registry to operate the ".SHANGBIAO" top level domain in Chinese territory, which means that the ".SHANGBIAO" domain name has been incorporated into China's domain name management system.

Wu Yangyi, Operating President of China Region of “.SHANGBIAO” Domain Registry, pointed out at the meeting that the ".SHANGBIAO" domain is the only generic top level domain on the Internet with the Chinese "trademark" suffix and combines domain name rights and trademark rights. In fact, the domain complies with international domain management standards and serves as an authoritative vehicle for intellectual property online.

As man has entered the Internet era, people are becoming increasingly reliant and dependent on the Internet. With the frequent occurrence of all sorts of rights infringement, people have shown a greater interest in ensuring the accuracy of information on the Internet.

The ".SHANGBIAO" domain dedicates itself to providing trademark holders around the world with the opportunity to protect, express, and make public their rights to their trademarks and enabling both consumers and netizens alike to identify the sources of different commodities and services online by making them with the ".SHANGBIAO" suffix, thereby reducing the chance of using inconsistent trademarks online and offline for trademark holders and the likelihood of purchasing counterfeit commodities for consumers. In fact, the use of a ".SHANGBIAO" domain name may reduce losses caused by false information and therefore provide effective protection for businesses and consumers alike.

To make sure that a ".SHANGBIAO" domain name registered registrant matches the holder of a true offline trademark and that the registration information associated with a domain name matches the user's trademark, the Domain Registry has established a strict examination and approval system to ensure that all registrars and agents run checks on every domain name registrant to find out if the registrant has used its real name with a view to ensuring the authenticity and authoritativeness of every registered ".SHANGBIAO" names.

According to Ms. Zuo Yang from the Domain Registry's Policy and Intellectual Property Department, the expression of trademarks was first realized by letters and patterns on surfaces and has to date developed to include so many other means that nowadays it is possible to express a trademark by linking it with a particular sound, a particular smell, or a domain name. However it exists, whether on a surface or as a particular sound or smell, a trademark can be legally used only after it is examined and approved and properly registered. A trademark is protected by law once it is registered.

There are restrictions on the use of offline trademarks registered in different countries and a trademark may fall into one of 45 categories based on how and within what scope the domain name may be used. Because the Domain Registry sticks to a first-come, first-served principle and its operation is not restricted by an offline trademark's attributes, like its region, its nationality, and the category it falls into among the 45 categories, any registration applicant who has successfully registered a domain name with the Domain Registry will become the sole holder of that domain name and will hold exclusive rights to that ".SHANGBIAO" domain name under the protection of laws.

In addition to having all the functionality associated with a top level domain, ".SHANGBIAO" domain names can identify the source of a particular commodity or service and mark the individual, enterprise, or organization it represents, thereby fulfilling the basic identification and marking function of the trademark. As soon as a business obtains a ".SHANGBIAO" domain name, it acquires something that can be used online like the ® trademark symbol used in the offline world; therefore, not only is the ".SHANGBIAO" a domain name, but it serves as an online identifying mark for a trademark.

Liu Zhenyu, General Manager of Chinese region of HUYI Group, pointed out that as a registration service agency for the ".SHANGBIAO" domain his company had been providing registration, guarantee, monitoring, and other intellectual property-related services for the online and offline trademarks of Chinese businesses for years, and that since it began to serve as a registration service agency for the domain, it had won high praise and recognition from domestic and foreign businesses. In fact, a large number of famous brands have registered their own "Brand.SHANGBIAO" domain names, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Gucci, Chanel, Amazon, Alibaba, Yahoo!, China Telecom, Gome Electrical Appliances, S.F. Express, Bank of China, Eu Yan Sang, Hutchison Whampoa, Vipshop, Shiseido, Starbucks, Rolex and etc.

Now that the Pearl River Delta has become one of the top three engines of the Chinese economy, we hope that ".SHANGBIAO" domain will grow into an effective tool that businesses in Guangdong may use online to better protect their trademarks, so that the social value of the ".SHANGBIAO" domain may be realized.

News Link: http://it.21cn.com/ec/zhnb/2015/0110/23/28865880.shtml