Cybersquatting Disputes Increase

The number of Internet domain name cybersquatting disputes filed with WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Center increased by 25 percent in 2006. Many related to trademarks which were attracting media coverage, such as a spate of cases involving the Tamiflu trademark, filed at the height of international concern about an avian flu pandemic.

New Practices Threaten Trademark Owners' Interests

Commenting on the figures, WIPO Deputy Director General Francis Gurry drew attention to new practices in domain name registration which are threatening the interests of trademark owners. These include -

* the use of Whois privacy services for registrations;

* the growth in the number of professional domain name dealers and the volume of their activity;

* the use of computer software to automatically register expired domain names and their 'parking' on pay-per-click portal sites;

* the option to register names for free for a five-day "tasting" trial;

* the growth in the number of accredited registrars; and

* the establishment of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs).

The combined result is to create greater opportunities for mass, often anonymous, registration of domain names without consideration of third-party IP rights.

"Practices such as 'domain name tasting' risk turning the domain name system into a mostly speculative market," said Mr. Gurry. "Domain names used to be primarily specific identifiers of businesses and other Internet users, but many names nowadays are mere commodities for speculative gain," he said. With mass-automated registrations turning domain names into "moving targets," Mr. Gurry called for consideration to be given to concrete policy responses.

Domain name tasting services enable a person or entity (who may be affiliated with a registrar) to register a domain name for a five-day grace period without a registration fee, and to park the name on a pay-per-click website monitored for revenue. The name is then dropped or re-registered by a new registrant, thereby starting a new grace period. Only those domain names generating significant traffic are permanently registered. As a result of computer applications, tens of millions of domain names are temporarily registered on this basis each month.

Traditionally, cybersquatting involved the registration of domain names by individuals seeking to sell the 'squatted' domain name. Nowadays, 'domainers' derive income from the large-scale...