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The practice of acquiring a domain
name with the intention of selling it on to a company or individual who
wants to use it for their own purposes, especially those who feel their
claim is more legitimate. The first-come, first-served nature of the domain
name registration process and the lack of authentication by registration
mean that many companies have found the domains they wanted for their web
presences have been bought by quick-thinking entrepreneurs, tipped off, in
some cases, by employees of isps who know a company is in the
process of registering a domain name. Some companies have had success in
reclaiming domains they see as their rightful property, notably mtv
and McDonalds, but many less well-known businesses have not had the
same co-operation from the courts and have found it cheaper and easier
simply to pay up and move on.
Despite the efforts of organisations
such as icann and the International Trademark Association, which has
campaigned for new international legislation on cybersquatting, the issues
surrounding it are unlikely to be resolved soon. Part of the problem is that
unlike the real world, where companies with the same name have generally
coexisted happily for decades, the web demands unique identifiers for
addresses. No reliable worldwide process exists for settling disputes over
this kind of intellectual property, despite icann's introduction of
its much-criticised Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (udrp).
In the United States, the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer
Protection Act was introduced in 1999 to help resolve disputes between
domain and trademark owners, and is used on a case-by-case basis to
determine who has the right to own a name. Under the act, trademark owners,
if they are to prevail, must show that their opponent acted in bad faith
when registering a disputed name and harmed the trademark owner's commercial
interest. Its principal benefit is that unlike other trademark legislation
it makes allowances for distinctive trademarks rather than just famous ones,
giving smaller companies a better chance of defending their turf. |
