Glass Company Files Trademark for Company Name as TLD .Schott

German glass and component company Schott AG has filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “.schott” for “Registration of domain names (legal services); management of domain names; renting or leasing of domain names; allocation of domain names; trading in domain names.”

This is an interesting move that means one of two things:

1. The company plans to acquire its own top level domain name as .schott

OR

2. The company wants added protection against a new top level domain name applicant trying to get its name as a top level domain name.

It seems that the latter case would be more a worry of larger, bigger brands. Regardless, current U.S. Patent and Trademark guidelines suggest that the servicemark application will be denied since top level domain names can’t be trademarked.