.rightathome

Status:	Terminated
Registry Provider:	Verisign
Type:	Brand TLD
More information:

.rightathome was a Brand TLD proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant was Johnson Shareholdings, Inc. They also applied for .scjohnson, .off, .raid, .glade, .duck, .mrmuscle, and .afamilycompany.

Objection

An official Legal Rights Objection was filed by Right At Home Inc., against the applicant.

A Legal Rights Objection, as defined by the ICANN approved mediator, WIPO, is when, "third parties may file a formal objection to an application on several grounds, including, for trademark owners and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) [..] When such an objection is filed, an independent panel (comprised of one or three experts) will determine whether the applicant’s potential use of the applied-for gTLD would be likely to infringe [..] the objector’s existing trademark, or IGO name or acronym."

SC Johnson prevailed in the WIPO mediation., and was subsequently awarded the TLD.

On March 18, 2020, Johnson Shareholdings submitted a Termination Notice to ICANN for the .rightathome TLD. After completing its review, ICANN terminated the Registry Agreement on September 14, 2020.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"Johnson Shareholdings, Inc.’s (“Johnson Shareholdings”) parent company, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (“SC Johnson”), is a leading global manufacturer of household brands with operations in more than 70 countries and products sold virtually in every country around the world. As a family company with 125 years of history, SC Johnson employs nearly 13,000 people globally and generates more than $9 billion in sales annually.

SC Johnson markets a variety of home cleaning, pest control, air care, home storage, and shoe care products. SC Johnson’s product portfolio includes global brands such as Pledge®, Duck®, Mr. Muscle®, Windex®, Scrubbing Bubbles®, Glade®, Raid®, OFF!®, Baygon®, Kiwi® and Ziploc®. In all of its global operations, SC Johnson maintains its focus on environmental sustainability and its role as a community leader, as well as striving to create a positive work environment for its employees.

Recognizing the potential dynamic evolution of a .RIGHTATHOME gTLD as a trusted brand namespace, SC Johnson has decided to use a wholly owned subsidiary, Johnson Shareholdings, as the entity to file this application and bring the .RIGHTATHOME gTLD to market.

Through a unified approach, Johnson Shareholdings intends to submit eight gTLD applications. In addition to .RIGHTATHOME, Johnson Shareholdings is submitting applications for .SCJOHNSON, .OFF, .RAID, .GLADE, .DUCK, .MRMUSCLE, and .AFAMILYCOMPANY.

SC Johnson’s Right@Home(TM) site offers tips, recipes, inspiration, and other products and services, including a monthly newsletter for members that offers money-saving tips, coupons, and deals; decorating and organizational ideas for the home; recipes; cleaning basics; and other tips and advice relating to the home.

The intended future mission and purpose of the .RIGHTATHOME gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace provided by SC Johnson for SC Johnson’s customers, and Internet users in general.

Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD specification in the current version of the Applicant Guidebook, it is widely anticipated within the brand-owner community that this will become a specialty subset of gTLDs. The .RIGHTATHOME gTLD is intended to be one of those .BRAND gTLDs, with the goal of protecting SC Johnson’s online presence and identity; expanding its marketing and promotion efforts; providing a secure channel for Right@Home(TM) content; and offering a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of SC Johnson.

Johnson Shareholdings intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .RIGHTATHOME gTLD to SC Johnson and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow Johnson Shareholdings to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution, coupled with the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the template Registry Agreement, is intended to exempt Johnson Shareholdings from its annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements."

World Intellectual Property Organization

Top-Level Domain