Global domain name registry CentralNic announced today the launch of a new extension, .US.ORG, to add to their impressive portfolio of over 20 domain extensions. To coincide with their announcement, the company revealed that brand and trademark owners will receive six years of free registration as part of an intellectual property protection program.

“The mission of .US.ORG is to embody higher standards of social responsibility and ethical behavior. CentralNic has elected to introduce protections and benefits for trademark holders that far exceed the measures currently proposed by ICANN for new top-level domains, and practiced by other domains and registries,” said Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic.

The right to six years’ free registration for .US.ORG domains will be extended to all validated trademarks registered as domains in the “Sunrise Period”—a window closing April 4, 2011. This period allows for trademark owners to reserve .US.ORG domains prior to their release to the general public. The six years’ free registration will be automatically provided to all trademarks that have already submitted a request.

Crawford added, “Where other domain extensions broke new ground by offering three years’ free registration to a hundred global brands, we wanted to avoid excluding other trademark holders and to extend unprecedented privileges to all trademark owners.”

“With these measures for .US.ORG, CentralNic has gone further than anyone else in the industry to move away from the threat of new domains as a ‘tax’ on trademark owners forced to make defensive registrations,” said Bart Lieben, Counsel at Crowell and Moring LLC and architect of the ClearingHouse for Intellectual Property. CentralNic has engaged ClearingHouse for Intellectual Property to manage the validation of all trademarks for .US.ORG registrations.

To take advantage of these benefits, trademark owners should contact their registrars.

ABOUT .US.ORG
.US.ORG is a new domain extension for organizations, projects, websites and people with a higher purpose than simply maximizing profits. As a leader in the ethical and responsible use of domain names, .US.ORG will be announcing a number of innovations in such areas as: trademark protection, security and stability, environmental responsibility, and bridging the “digital divide”.