Cybersquatting On The Increase, Says WIPO

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

31 March 2008

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last week suggested that against the background of an unprecedented number of cybersquatting cases in 2007, the evolving nature of the domain name registration system (DNS) is causing growing concern for trademark owners around the world.

According to WIPO, last year a record 2,156 complaints alleging cybersquatting - or the abusive registration of trademarks on the Internet - were filed with the Organization’s Arbitration and Mediation Center, representing an 18% increase over 2006, and a 48% increase over 2005 in the number of generic and country code Top Level Domain (gTLDs and ccTLDs) disputes.

“These increases confirm that ‘cybersquatting’ remains a significant issue for rights holders,” observed Francis Gurry, WIPO Deputy Director General, who oversees WIPO’s dispute resolution work.

He went on to note that a number of developments in the DNS are also cause for concern from the perspective of intellectual property holders, as well as Internet users generally.

Among these, the use of privacy services to shield abusive registrations and the evolving role of certain domain name registrars, together with the ongoing trademark abuse reflected in WIPO’s caseload, raise concerns about the introduction of a number of new gTLDs announced for late 2008.

“The potentially useful purposes of any new domains would be frustrated if these get filled predominantly with automated pay-per-click content,” stated Mr Gurry, adding that:

“It comes down to a question of quantity versus quality. If the stated purpose of new gTLDs is to increase choice and competition in domain registration services, due consideration must be given to ICANN’s core UDRP principles during the policy development work and implementation plans."

"This is not just an issue of protecting rights of trademark holders, but also an issue of the reliability of the addressing system of the Internet in matching interested parties with authentic subjects.”

Gurry revealed that WIPO is ready to assist the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) with its policy work in this regard.

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