Irish Co. Registering a .EU - Documents??

misterq

I've been scratching my head over the rules for Sunrise II registration of a company name. Given the cost of an application, I don't want to get this wrong and have it rejected.

From my reading of the docmentary annex, the rules applying to a company registering a company name (not a trademark) are as follows:

Where documentary evidence is submitted as referred to in Section 12(3)(i) of the Sunrise Rules, the documentary evidence must enable the Validation Agent to validate the existence of a protected prior right (under the law of Passing Off) on the basis of prima facie review of the documentation as set out in Section 21(2) of the Sunrise Rules.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.

So, what is rule 12(3)(i) I hear you all scream, barely able to contain the excitement.
Well here it is:

If, under the law of the relevant member state, the existence of the
Prior Right claimed is subject to certain conditions relating to the name
being famous, well known, publicly or generally known, have a certain
reputation, goodwill or use, or the like, the Applicant must furthermore
submit
(i) an affidavit signed by a competent authority, legal practitioner,
or professional representative, accompanied by documentation
supporting the affidavit or

Ok, so what they would be looking for is not just a certifcate of incorporation but also an affidavit from a solicitor stating that this company's name is well known and is therefore protected under the law of passing off, thus having a prior right.

Wow. Pity it isn't a German company. All they seem to need is a copy of their company registration certificate.

Does anyone have any comments or experience in this? I would be interested to know if I have this right.

bpmurray

Can't you just register it in Germany?

misterq

No. The rules are Europe wide but the documentation required varies depending on where the company is based. So a UK company might have to provide X, and a French company might have to provide Y.

If I made the application in Germany, the Irish company would still have to provide the Irish set of documentation.

dahamsta

I think you're probably reading that wrong; note the "if" at the start of the sentence. Is "the existence of the Prior Right claimed" ... "subject to certain conditions relating to the name being famous, well known, publicly or generally known, have a certain reputation, goodwill or use, or the like"?

That to me says: "Is this a well-known brand, and if so can you prove your right to it?" Which in turn suggests that if it's not a well-known brand, you don't necessarily need to prove your right to it. However it's worth bearing in mind that the more you do to prove your right to a name, the better chance you have of PWC okaying it.

(DISCLAIMER: I haven't applied for any Sunrise domains myself, and my clients have taken care of their own documentation, which is requested directly from them by PWC.)

adam

misterq

Hi Ken

You could well have a point there. It is confusing. What leads me to believe that this isn't quite correct though is that the documentation appendix pointing to that section 12(3)(i) goes on to state:

(and not the documentary evidence referred to in Section 16 of the Sunrise Rules)

(section 16 basically says for a company name, a certificate of incorporation or similar will do).

This seems to suggest that in Germany for example, a company has automatic prior right once their company name is registered, whereas in Ireland the law is different and a company name in itself is not enough to establish prior right.

ok, I've been googling a little deeper, it seems this is the case:
http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/eu-domains/4966-uk-irish-companies-may-not-get-eu-domains.html