The Sunrise period for .XXX has arrived and many companies are complaining about having to yet again protect their brand. But there is something worse. They could screw up the application and have to pay extra. Encirca has come up with a pretty smart promotion. The “We won’t screw it up” program. They are so sure they understand the process and the forms that if they do screw it up, they’ll pay the fee. If you think that’s not such a big deal, the statistics say otherwise. Past Sunrise periods have had as many as 50% rejected forms. Here’s the press release by Encirca
ICANN registrar EnCirca has announced a money-back guarantee for trademark owners applying for the .XXX Sunrise Period. EnCirca is so confident in its understanding of the validation requirements that it is guaranteeing that submitted applications will be accepted by the validation agent or EnCirca will offer a full refund of fees paid. To learn more information about EnCirca’s .XXX pre-validation service and the details of the offer, visit http://www.encirca.com/xxx.
Once an .XXX sunrise application is submitted, it cannot be corrected without paying an additional fee. So, catching mistakes before submission saves trademark owners time and money. Prior to submitting Sunrise applications, EnCirca will analyze all trademark applications to ensure they will satisfy the eligibility standards set by the registry. The .XXX Sunrise Period begins September 7 and runs until October 28.
“In past Sunrise Periods, nearly 50 percent of Sunrise applications contained errors,” says Tom Barrett, President of EnCirca. “A rejected Sunrise application can be costly as the trademark owner may then need to participate in the general availability phase to claim their trademark and end up paying annual renewal fees.”
No other ICANN registrar is offering a money-back guarantee for the .XXX Sunrise Period. That is because they are not reviewing the applications to ensure they will satisfy the validation requirements. Trademark owners planning to protect their brands in the .XXX domain extension should make sure to select an ICANN registrar who understands the trademark restrictions in force for .XXX.
Most trademark owners are confident in the accuracy of their trademark management systems. However, the .XXX validation agent will base its decisions on online trademark databases, which may have different data.
EnCirca pricing for .XXX Sunrise for trademark owners is $195 for the application and registry fee and $50 for the pre-validation fee. Both will be refunded if the Sunrise application is rejected by the .XXX validation agent.