An application for registration of the .GAY trademark has been submitted.

A Washington resident has filed an application to use the trademark .GAY with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The applicant, one Thomas Petersen, filed the application on June 20, just after ICANN approved the plan to launch new top-level domains.

Experts note that filing an application is only a small preliminary step on the path to a domain zone; obtaining a trademark through such an application alone will be quite difficult. Furthermore, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not grant trademarks based on the existence of a top-level domain. If a domain zone exists, the trademark is granted only for use in internet addresses, and not in all other areas of life.

Interestingly, an attempt to obtain the .GAY trademark was made back in 1997, but the applicant, a Canadian company, never fully succeeded in obtaining the trademark.