WIPO Anti-Cybersquatting Drive Continues

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

29 January 2004

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) announced this week that although efforts to crack down on the abusive registration of domain names (or cybersquatting) have made significant headway over the past few years, the practice remains a problem for large businesses and high profile individuals.

The Organisation revealed that in 2003, it received around 1,100 complaints, around the same number as the previous year. However, since the introduction of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) in 1999, the number of disputes has dropped considerably (from an average of five a day in 1999 to around three a day in 2003).

Under the UDRP, a complainant must demonstrate that the disputed domain is identical or confusingly similar to its trademark, that the respondent does not have a right or legitimate interest in the domain name and that the respondent registered and used the domain name in bad faith.

Speaking on Tuesday, Francis Gurry, Deputy Director General of WIPO explained that:

"While daily filings with WIPO are less now than in the early days of the UDRP, we need to continue our efforts to ensure that the rights of legitimate trademark owners are not diluted."

He concluded: "The fact that over 80 percent of the WIPO expert decisions went in favor of the trademark holder, be it a large multinational corporation or a small or medium-sized business, underlines the bad faith inherent in this practice."

Recommended