The United Nations warned that the planned introduction of multiple new web domains – adding to the likes of .com and .net – will spark trademark rows, confuse consumers and undermine public trust without tough new rules to curb abusive practices by “cybersquatters” and domain registries. The World Intellectual Property Organisation raises its concerns in a letter to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the non-profit US-based group that manages the internet addressing system. Its plans to allow companies and public sector organisations to create their own top-level domains, such as .pepsi or .worldbank, could result in hundreds of such domains compared to the 21 now authorised. This would present a “nearly unmanageable task” for trademark owners to monitor abuse, says Francis Gurry, WIPO director-general. Each new top-level domain gives so-called cybersquatters a chance to register a web address using someone else’s trademark or name, in the hope of selling it to the legitimate owner at a high price or making money from advertising on the site.
The problem has been exacerbated by practices such as automated domain name ‘tasting’ – registering sometimes millions of domain names during the free trial period allowed by current rules to see which sites bring in the most “pay-for-click” advertising revenue. ICANN has agreed in principle that WIPO will handle challenges by trademark holders to proposals for new top-level domains. But the UN agency says stronger rules are needed to deter usurpation of trademark names after top-level domains have been registered, targeting abusive practices by registrars that “cause or materially contribute to trademark infringement”.
These would include deliberately or knowingly registering web addresses that violated trademark rights or failing to put in place reasonable procedures for protecting such rights. Sanctions for breaching the rules could extend to injunctions to cease registrations of particular names or even cancellation of the registrar’s contract with Icann.
Separately, WIPO said cybersquatting disputes filed with its arbitration centre reached a record 2’329 last year, bringing to over 14,000 the total number of cases handled by the centre under a cheap and quick disputes procedure introduced by Icann a decade ago.
Complainants in 2008 included companies such as Samsung and BMW, and personalities such as film star Scarlett Johansson and Arsenal footballer Cesc Fàbregas.
The WIPO centre, which arbitrates disputes for all the existing top-level domains and for 57 country domains, accounts for about 60 per cent of cybersquatting cases filed worldwide.
The problem has been exacerbated by practices such as automated domain name ‘tasting’ – registering sometimes millions of domain names during the free trial period allowed by current rules to see which sites bring in the most “pay-for-click” advertising revenue. ICANN has agreed in principle that WIPO will handle challenges by trademark holders to proposals for new top-level domains. But the UN agency says stronger rules are needed to deter usurpation of trademark names after top-level domains have been registered, targeting abusive practices by registrars that “cause or materially contribute to trademark infringement”.
These would include deliberately or knowingly registering web addresses that violated trademark rights or failing to put in place reasonable procedures for protecting such rights. Sanctions for breaching the rules could extend to injunctions to cease registrations of particular names or even cancellation of the registrar’s contract with Icann.
Separately, WIPO said cybersquatting disputes filed with its arbitration centre reached a record 2’329 last year, bringing to over 14,000 the total number of cases handled by the centre under a cheap and quick disputes procedure introduced by Icann a decade ago.
Complainants in 2008 included companies such as Samsung and BMW, and personalities such as film star Scarlett Johansson and Arsenal footballer Cesc Fàbregas.
The WIPO centre, which arbitrates disputes for all the existing top-level domains and for 57 country domains, accounts for about 60 per cent of cybersquatting cases filed worldwide.
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