DNS Developments Feed Growing Cybersquatting Concerns

DNS Developments Feed Growing Cybersquatting Concerns

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. Last year, a record 2,156 complaints alleging cybersquatting - or the abusive registration of trademarks on the Internet - were filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center (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 (see Table 1).

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