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 ASCII application for the .ICBC string, ICBC will also be filing an internationalized domain name (IDN) 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
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.
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：
“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
“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
（2） International in following countries:
“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
“工行” trademark
Indonesia:2007002885
Malaysia:2007⁄01718
Singapore:T1015035B
Vietnam:4-2010-24059
France:103781984
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 .ICBC 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 is using it in the broader commercial marketplace. This proposed phased roll-out provides heighted guarantees that the identity and contact information of each .ICBC domain name registrant will be known thus minimizing the start-up and operational costs of ICBC.
|