Companies send letter to ICANN to avoid string contention set for .GED and .GEA

Two new gTLD applicants, GED Domains LLC and GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft, have send a joint statement to ICANN explaining the reasons why the .GED and .GEA gTLD strings should not be placed in string contention set.

The parties believe there is very low probability of user confusion between the .GEA top level domain applied for by GEA Group (based in Germany) and the .GED top level domain applied for by the GED Domains, a subsidiary of GED testing Services  LLC (based in the USA), even if both strings are delegated into the root zone.

GEA and GED are both registered trademarks and well established brands that enjoy high levels of confidence and recognition from their respective customers, business partners and internet users.

The products and services being offered and promoted by GEA and GED Testing Service and the the markets and consumers they serve, respectively, couldn’t be more different.

Finally, GEA and GED Domains are planning to restrict the use and registration of their respective gTLDs.

String confusion exists where a string so nearly resembles another that it is likely to deceive or cause confusion, but for any likelihood of confusion to exist, it must be probable, not merely theoretically possible, that confusion will actually arise in the mind of the average, reasonable internet user. Mere visual similarity is not a sufficient basis to support a finding of string confusion. According, GEA Group and GED Domains and its parent GED Testing Service, respectfully submit that their respective gTLDs pass the string similarity review and proceed with the evaluation process.