Blog

ICANN to host first-ever dot-brand auction

Germany-based Merck Group will compete with American rival Merck & Co for .MERCK at an ICANN (The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) auction scheduled for July 17, states DomainIncite (www.domainincite.com).

The auction will be the first all-brand ICANN auction, but not the first global trademark complication as companies try to protect their brands on hundreds of new Internet domains. ICANN admitted earlier that brands were at risk of domain abuse with new top level domains issued by the NGO.

Two Merck pharmaceutical companies, one with rights to use the name in the US and Canada and the other with rights for the rest of the world, are now also fighting in court. Merck KGaA is suing Merk & Co. over the .MERCK top level domain name. The German company has filed two lawsuits against competing applicant in District Court in Hamburg as well as in the United Kingdom.

The German Merck is a chemicals company founded in 1668 and the US Merck was founded as its subsidiary in the late 19th century that was confiscated by the US government during World War I and then established as an independent company.

The German company uses merckgroup.com as its primary domain today. The US firm, which is by far the larger company, uses merck.com.

Both companies applied for .MERCK as “community” applicants and went through the Community Priority Evaluation process. Because it’s a “last-resort” auction for ICANN, the value of the winning bid will be disclosed, and all the money will flow to the NGO.

It will be the first ICANN gTLD auction since three years ago, when a Verisign proxy agreed to pay $135 million for .web.

The Merck companies could still avoid the ICANN auction by resolving their contention set privately.

International trademark disputes are very common, a company name trademarked in one country may belong to an entirely different corporation someplace else.


Also published on Medium.

Tamara M

Recent Posts

art&: Croatia’s First Art Therapy Initiative

Above: Dora Derado Giljanović, PhD — art historian, curator, and founder of art&, Croatia’s first…

14 hours ago

TIME TO ART: Medina Kasimova and .ART Transform Berlin During Art Week 2025

Berlin Art Week 2025 isn’t just happening inside galleries — this year, the city itself…

6 days ago

Porsche.art: Gateway to Venice’s Waterways at Biennale Architettura 2025

Porsche (porsche.art) is expanding its engagement with art, design, and architecture through The Art of…

1 week ago

Digital Innovation in Arts & Culture Award 2025: Meet the Semi-Finalists

This year’s Digital Innovation in Arts & Culture Award (DIAC) semi-finalists represent the cutting edge…

2 weeks ago

Emi Kusano: Redefining AI Art

Above: Pixelated Perception (2023) investigates modern ways of seeing through pixelated imagery, commenting on the…

3 weeks ago

Art Market 2025: State of the Market, Trends & Updates | Webinar Recap

Speakers (short bios) Andrew Goldstein — Editorial leader and creative strategist. Former Editor-in-Chief of Artnet…

3 weeks ago