http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/04/201342312710292956.html Interesting article that begins to address issues of the ICANN trademark protection mechanism called the "Trademark Clearinghouse" (TMCH), which will create a global central registry for all trademarks that are registered/protected. Will it disadvantage African trademarks? Most African business/trademark holders etc have not been paying much attention to what has been going on at ICANN with the new gTLD processes and this discussion has not taken place in our region, yet it is an important one. A proposed African Mark Validation System (MVS) will be established for "holders of various proprietary-­‐naming rights, in particular trade mark rights" and can soon start submitting their marks to the MVS with supporting documentation. " The MVS is expected to then feed to the ICANN TMCH. Best Alice --