The intention of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ʺICBCʺ) in filing this application is to provide a trusted, hierarchical and intuitive namespace for businesses and consumers that use ICBC’s broad range of financial products and services. In addition to this IDN application for the .工行 string, ICBC will also be filing an ASCII application for the string (.工行) to provide a unified branding strategy for a global financial institution.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited
工行 (ICBC) is a trademark of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (SEHK: 1398; , SSE: 601398). (simplified Chinese: 中国工商银行; traditional Chinese: 中國工商銀行; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gōngshāng Yínháng, more commonly known as 工行 Gōngháng). ICBC was incorporated in the Peopleʹs Republic of China on January 1, 1984 and is now one of the largest commercial banks in China, as well as around the world, with total assets in excess of RMB 15,476 billion, ICBC had 408,859 employees under payroll providing a wide range of financial products and services to 4.11 million corporate clients and 282 million individual customers through 16,648 outlets across China and 239 overseas subsidiaries at the end of 2011.ICBC was incorporated in the Peopleʹs Republic of China on January 1, 1984 and is now one of the largest commercial banks in China, as well as around the world, with total assets in excess of RMB 15,127 billion at the end of Q3 2011. At the end of 2010, ICBC had 397,339 employees under payroll providing a wide range of financial products and services to 4.12 million corporate clients and 259 million individual customers through 16,227 outlets across China and 203 overseas subsidiaries.
The following trademark portfolio is the inseparable part of ICBC’s businesses. It represents the past and on-going effort made by ICBC on intellectual property asset protection relating to the “ICBC” and “工行” brand.
“ICBC” and “工行” Trademark Information
（1） Greater China trademark registrations：
“工行” trademark
China: 4138614,4138613,4138612,4138611,4138610,4138609,4138608, 4138607,4138606,4138605,4138474,4138473,4138472,4138471, 4138470,4138469,4138468,4138467,4138466,4138465,4138484, 4138483,4138482,4138481, 4138480,4138479,4138478,4138477, 4138476,4138475,4138494,4138493,4138492,4138491,4138490, 4138489,4138488,4138487,4138486,4138485,4138504,4138503, 4138502,4138501,4138500
Hong Kong: 300804609
Macau: N⁄026615
“ICBC” trademark
China: 4140958,4140957,4140959,4140960,4140961,6766427,4140963, 4140964,4140965,4140966,4139917,4139918,4139919,4139920, 4139921,4139922,4139923,4139924,4139925,4139926,4139927, 4139928,4139929,4139930,4139931,4139932,4139933,4139934, 4139935,4139936,4139944,4139946,4139945,6766426,6766424, 6766423,6766422,6766421,6766420,4140967,4140968,4140969, 4140970,4140971,1149829,
Macao: N⁄013317 Hong Kong :1997B06436
（2）”ICBC” International in following countries:
“工行” trademark
Indonesia:2007002885
Malaysia:2007⁄01718
Singapore:T1015035B
Vietnam:4-2010-24059
France:103781984
“ICBC” trademark
Indonesia: IDM000050742
Korea :49297
Kazakhstan，Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Britain, Italy, Spain, Egypt：826388
Singapore: T97⁄08659G
United Arab emirates:101950
Kuwait:89146
Peru:00063863
India:1938584
Laos:22417
Qatar:56377
Burma:4⁄3382⁄2011
Brazil,:902445260
Thailand:765401
South Africa :2010⁄05937
Vietnam:4-2010-24056
France: 103781954
Cambodia: KH⁄40137⁄11
Argentina:3075590
Mexico: 1148826
Chile:939714
Pakistan:294516
Mongolia, Hungary, the Czech republic, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia： 1081128
Potential Business Models
ICBC is still analyzing potential use case options on the type of domain names that will be permitted to be registered and by whom. In undertaking this research, ICBC is leveraging its experience as global financial institution to ensure that its corporate and individuals clients are provided information and services in a safe and trusted environment. The current best thinking involves a three stage roll-out over a seven year period of time.
Stage One
The primary use of the .工行 gTLD will initially be primarily defensive in nature, with ICBC registering a limited number of second level domain names. This initial use will provide ICBC IT and security personal the ability to run a number of tests to ensure seamless and secure access to the ICBC website, and interoperability with various software and web-based applications. This will likely take one year, especially considering that ICBC will be seeking to integrate both an ASCII and IDN application.
Stage Two
Once appropriate security and stability issues have been satisfactorily addressed, ICBC will likely begin allocating domain name for internal corporate use. This will likely involve allocating second level domain names corresponding to individual branches and potentially financial products and services offered by ICBC. This phased roll-out will likely take place during years two thru three, but is subject to change depending upon a range of external factors. During this same period of time ICBC will evaluate potential strategies to migrate all traffic away from the current patch work network of second level domains registered in various TLDs, to ICBC’s ASCII and IDN gTLDs.
Stage Three
ICBC is still evaluating the potential to allow future registration of domain name to individuals and organizations outside of ICBC, e.g. select VIPS and SMEs. However, ICBC will likely not make any such determination until after the first three years of operation, and the ability of ICBC to survey how other global financial institutions that might apply for a gTLD are using it in the broader commercial marketplace. This proposed phased roll-out provides heighted guarantees that the identity and contact information of each .工行 domain name registrant will be known thus minimizing the start-up and operational costs of ICBC.
How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
ICBC believes that a proposed .工行 gTLD has the potential to offer the following benefits to Internet users and consumers:
• A trusted online marketplace for ICBC corporate and individual customers seeking to access ICBC’s financial goods and services online;
• Provide linguistic-friendly and memorable domain names that will facilitate the ease by which the Chinese-speaking consumers can locate information online;
Currently ICBC operates a number of corporate websites using a combination of second-level and top-level domain names. A representative sampling of regional ICBC websites and their corresponding domain names are listed below. However, for a full listing of all ICBC global websites and corresponding domain names please refer to the following URL on the ICBC main website, see http:⁄⁄www.icbc-ltd.com⁄ICBCLtd⁄About%20Us⁄Global%20Websites⁄
ICBC Canada- http:⁄⁄www.icbk.ca⁄
ICBC New York - http:⁄⁄www.icbkus.com⁄
ICBC Madrid – http:⁄⁄www.icbc.com.es
ICBC Paris - http:⁄⁄www.icbcparis.fr⁄
ICBC London - http:⁄⁄www.icbclondon.com⁄
ICBC Netherland -http:⁄⁄www.icbc.co.nl⁄
ICBC Doha - http:⁄⁄www.icbc.com.qa⁄
ICBC Middle East -http:⁄⁄www.icbcme.ae⁄
ICBC believes that a .工行 gTLD can provide an online single source identifying function for its current and future Chinese-speaking customers around the global, instead of the current mix-and-max approach that ICBC is currently forced to resort to as it expands into different markets around the world. |