Donuts can reject DPML Plus applications of certain 3-character or common dictionary terms

On October 1, 2016, Donuts announced upcoming price changes to its legacy DPML service and launched DPML Plus, a new and enhanced service for blocking trademarked terms, available for a limited time.

In the original DPML service premium priced domain names could not be blocked by the mark holders. Now that DPML Plus allows blocking of premium domains, Donuts has added a certain clause in the DPML Plus terms that allows it to review and then approve or reject DPML Plus applications of certain 3-character or common dictionary terms.

Note: Donuts retains the right to review and approve all DPML Plus applications (e.g., Donuts may decline to block certain three character or common dictionary terms).

This allows Donuts to reject certain dictionary terms that are best sellers in New gTLDs and also prevent any further trademark gaming of the system. I say “further” because many individuals and companies are registering bogus trademarks to take advantage of sunrise in New gTLDs by buying common dictionary terms in bargain prices ahead of everyone else.

Donuts can also make more money selling individual domains in premium prices.

I wrote in April 2014 how fake trademarks were used to steal generic domains in New gTLD sunrises. “What Box Holdings“, “Plan Bee LLC” and “Thomas A. Brackey II“ tried to create a business based on that. Donuts tried to fight the fake trademarks by making them all premium.

Donuts DPML Announcement:

Donuts announced yesterday that several prominent brands have renewed or purchased their DPML subscriptions to take advantage of legacy pricing. On January 1, 2017, the price of standard DPML service will be increased in order to align the service’s benefits with its marketplace value. Existing DPML subscribers can renew their subscriptions at current pricing before January 1.

DPML is a service that allows trademark owners to protect their marks and related terms across all of Donuts’ new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) at a fraction of what it would cost to defensively register the same terms.

In the more than three years since this service was launched, thousands of famous brands worldwide have subscribed. While DPML is hailed as an innovative, cost-saving measure, feedback from trademark holders informed Donuts that the service could be enhanced—particularly to include coverage of misspelled terms, allow blockage of terms in premium second-level names, and to address a third party mark holder’s ability to override a blocked term.

Accordingly, now, for a limited time, Donuts is offering DPML Plus. DPML Plus is different from your current legacy DPML subscription, in several ways:

DPML Plus permits a block of one exact match trademarked term plus three additional terms that can be any combination of “contains” and/or—for the first time—misspellings.

Examples include:

• Donuts (an exact match, as represented in your SMD file)
• Donutinc
• Donutstlds
• Domuts

Additional features of DPML Plus:

• Terms are blocked for an initial ten years (vs. the current five in the legacy service), giving you the convenience of long-term brand protection.
• Terms are blocked not only across all standard domains, but now, all premium domain names in our gTLDs.
• If you decide to register and use a term you previously blocked, you may submit unlimited overrides for the duration of the ten-year term, with no wholesale override fees (name registration fees would apply).
• DPML Plus blocks are not subject to overrides by other parties with the same trademark.

Donuts’ suggested retail price for DPML Plus is $9,999 (about the total cost to manage one to two UDRP proceedings) for the ten-year term. This is the cost-benefit analysis:

• At the average $32.99 retail cost for a registration in a Donuts TLD, it would cost almost exactly $6,500 per year to defensively register one term across 197 TLDs, and nearly $26,000 for four terms. Multiply that number by ten—the life of the DPML Plus service—and the total exceeds a quarter of a million dollars.
• At a $9,999 retail price, DPML Plus blocks four terms for ten years, for an average yearly cost of $1.26 per term.

You may convert your current DPML subscription to DPML Plus. Your ten-year subscription will commence as of the purchase date of DPML Plus, and you may then add your three additional terms. You may add more terms to the subscription for an additional fee for each term.