WIPO Recommends Uniform Mechanism For Regulating Domain Name Registrations

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

03 June 2005

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Wednesday recommended the introduction of a uniform intellectual property (IP) protection mechanism designed to further curb unauthorized registration of domain names in all new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs).

This came in a report by WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center on the IP implications of introducing additional generic Top-Level Domains (new gTLDs).

The report recommends implementing a single uniform preventive IP protection mechanism across all new gTLDs by requiring that IP owners be offered the option of registering their protected identifiers during a specified period before opening registration to the general public.

In sponsored or restricted gTLDs where IP owners may not be eligible to register domain names, IP owners could instead be given the option of obtaining defensive registrations during this initial period. According to WIPO, such a uniform mechanism would have a number of advantages, namely that:

• Operators of new gTLDs would not be required to develop their own IP protection mechanisms, a task for which they are not necessarily equipped;
• ICANN would not be required to monitor the correct implementation of multiple protection mechanisms applied by different gTLDs (now that ICANN’s experimental "proof of concept" phase on new gTLDs has been concluded);
• IP owners would not be required to devote significant resources to understanding and using multiple different IP protection mechanisms; and
• The general public would benefit from enhanced reliability and credibility of domains.

"If domain names are randomly attributed in newly opened gTLDs, IP owners will be forced to compete with cybersquatters for their own trademarks – unless additional safeguards are introduced," WIPO deputy director general, Francis Gurry explained, continuing: "Our new report makes practical recommendations for addressing such issues."

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