New gTLD registration company Donuts has filed a patent application for a ‘Whitelist Domain Name Registry’ with the US Patent and Trademark Office today. The application is designed to detail appropriate methods to be taken while handling domain names that are restricted.
In most instances, domain names that require some form of validation or pre-approval of the registrant are usually under government regulation. However, there have been petitions for some of the newer gTLDs to implement further precautionary restrictions, such as the .DOCTOR domain only being registered by medical professionals with valid licences.
Donuts claim that their patented ‘Whitelist Domain Name Registry’ will go a long way in simplifying regulation as well as negating oversight when it comes to the maintenance of such domains.
The patent lists Donuts co-founder Paul Stahura and CTO Christopher Cowherd as the inventors of the ‘Whitelist Domain Name Registry’, with the application originally being submitted on December 30th, 2015. A copy of the detailed white paper on the patent has also been published today by Domain Name Wire.