ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) for new gTLD applications will open for registrations on 26 March 2013.

According to the ICANN announcement, the TMCH is “the cornerstone of the rights protection mechanisms” built into ICANN’s new gTLD program. The TMCH is open to any trademark holder, without geographical limitation.

The TMCH is set-up to provide brand protection through two mechanisms:

• The Sunrise Service period, during which a trademark owner with a validated trademark registration in the TMCH can register the domain name that exactly matches their trademark.
• The Trademark Claims service, whereby a prospective domain name registrant is warned when attempting to register a domain name that matches a trademark in the TMCH, and the trademark holder is notified if the application proceeds to registration.