WIPO Proposals On Domain Name Registration Criticized

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, London

28 March 2003

A proposal put forward by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) poses a threat to the existence of many websites and domain names, particularly those in the public, charity, and community sectors.

WIPO announced recently that it wants to extend the provisions of Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to include country names, and government organisations. However, under the terms of UDRP, this could mean that any company or individual owning a domain which includes the name of a country or the acronym for a government department could be forced to hand it over.

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a not-for-profit organisation which coordinates the technical management of the internet, defines UDRP as a process whereby:

'Disputes alleged to arise from abusive registrations of domain names (for example, cybersquatting) may be addressed by expedited administrative proceedings that the holder of trademark rights initiates by filing a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution service provider.'

Speaking to the Vnunet.com news service on Thursday, Francis Gurry, WIPO's assistant director general and legal counsel admitted that concerns expressed over the proposal by observers may be justified, at least to a certain extent.

'We are only talking about people deliberately misleading others. This proposal would stop people illegitimately registering these names,' Mr Gurry explained. However he added that:

'Country names are more difficult as people use a country name quite legitimately. This is why the proposal only covers future registrations, not those already registered.'

The US government has reportedly objected to the WIPO proposal, arguing that there is no basis in international law for protecting country names and acronyms, and warning that if the proposal becomes policy, domain name registrars may be exposed to unacceptable levels of liability.

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