Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting), according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. The cybersquatter then offers to sell the domain to the person or company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price.
The term is derived from "squatting", which is the act of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building that the squatter does not own, rent, or otherwise have permission to use.
Understanding the Role of Labor Unions and Collective Bargaining
DOMAIN NAME AND CYBER SQUATTING
1.
2. * To understand importance of
domain name
*Disputes regarding domain name
and its types
*cyber squatting
3. Domain Name
Levels of Domain Name
ICANN
Domain names: Addresses or Trademarks?
Domain Name Disputes
Types of Domain Name Disputes
Remedies
4.
5. o With the advancement of new technology, every person wants to
have access cyber world.
o To navigate through this vast global collection of inter connected
computer networks (the internet), the domain name system
(DNS) was invented.
o Domain names are now highly visible in real space as well-
showing up a television commercials, billboards, magazine ads,
and even the side of buses.
6. DOMAIN NAME
• Domain names is primarily used to identify one computer from the millions
of others connected to the internet enabling users to send e-mail, to access
web pages, to transfer files.
• No two people can have the same telephone number and No two
organizations can have the same domain name .
• An IP address consists of multiple levels identified by both, numbers and
names. The number consists of four parts separated by periods (dots).
• For e.g. “173.0.133.225”- www.symlaw.ac.in (string number)
8. ICANN
• interNIC -internet network information center (“interNIC”) maintains and
administers the central database of all internet domain names
• NSI (US department of commerce)- first come, first served basis- interNIC granted
Network Solutions Inc. (NSI) the exclusive authority to register domain names in the
.com, .net and .org TLDs on behalf of the U.S Department of Commerce.
• In November 1998, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
was formed to assume responsibility for the IP address allocation, protocol parameter
assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management
functions and it is located in california.
• Restrictions for registration.
9. CURRENT STATISTICS REGISTERED DOMAIN
NAMES ALL OVER THE WORLD
Top Level Domains Active
.com 122,840,499
.net 15,654,527
.org 10,899,931
.info 5,142,817
.biz 2,316,627
.us 1,675,317
Total 158,511,718
10. Trademark v. Domain name
• As trademark is used to distinguish the goods and services of one
trader and it lets the general public associate the mark with any
identity,it is defined as a source identifier.
• In a similar manner, with the increase of commercial activities on
the internet, the domain name is also used as a business identifier.
• In the landmark case of Rediff Communication Ltd V
Cyberbooth(AIR 2000 Bom 27), the court held that the domain
name is a symbol that helps to ascertain the affiliation or
associationwith its owner.
11. Types of Domain Name Dispute
:
Cybersquatting,
Profit Grabbing,
Misspelling andIdentical Domain Name,
Concurrent Claims.
12. Cybersquatting
Cybersquatting is the practice by means of which a person or
legal entity books up the trade mark, business name or service
mark of another as his own domain name for the purpose of
holding on to it and thereafter selling the same domain name to
the other person for valuable premium and consideration.
Registering, trafficking in or using a domain name with bad faith
intent to profit from the goodwill of a Trade Mark belonging to
someone else.
Registration of a domain name by unaffiliated party
13. IN USA:
• Doctrine of Dilution.
• Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).
IN INDIA:
• cybersquatting has not been brought within the purview of the IT Act,
In case of judicial challenges in Indian courts concerning infringement
of trademarks by use of domain names.
Bisleri Case:
• In an Indian cybersquatting case also, popularly known as Bisleri case
[Acqua Minerals Ltd. V Pramod Borse, 2001 PTC 619 (del)]:
14. Cyber squatters
Cybersquatters frequently own thousands or even hundreds of
thousands or millions of domain names, which are typically
misspellings or variations of others’ trademarks.
Cybersquatters do not acquire these domain names out of spite
or for amusement. Rather, they acquire these domain names to
make money. It’s all about the income stream, and if the income
isn’t there, the cybersquatter will drop the domain name.
15. How Cybersquatting works
• The cybersquatter registers a domain name containing
another’s trademark and sets up a website.
• The cybersquatter displays advertisements on the website on
behalf of advertisers willing to pay the cybersquatter
anywhere from a few pennies to a few dollars each time
somebody clicks on one of the advertisements.
16.
17. Profit Grabbing
• In this kind of domain dispute, the
defendant indulges in the registration of a
domain name similar to the other’s same or
confusingly similar trademark or tradename,
in order to gain profits out of such business.
Satyam Infoway Ltd. V Sifynet Solutions
Pvt. Ltd:
(2004) 6 SCC 145
• www.sifynet.com
• www.sifyrealestate.com
• www.sifymain.com
• www.siffynet.com
• www.siffynet.net
18. MISSPELLING AND IDENTICAL DOMAIN NAMES:
• With the increase in business opportunities on Internet, many
people tend to register domain names, which appear to be similar
to that of the already registered domain names.
• It leads to confusion and misrepresentation in the minds of the
general public with regard to the owner of such domain name.
Yahoo! Inc. Vs Akash Arora [1999 (19) PTC 210 (Delhi)]:
• This case is to be considered as the first domain case in India
decided by Supreme Court.
• www.yahoo.com
• www.yahooindia.com
19. Rediff Communication Ltd. V Cyberbooth (AIR 2000 Bom 27):
• www.rediff.com
• www.radiff.com
Info Edge (India) Pvt. Ltd V Shailesh Gupta 2002 (24) PTC 355
(Del)
• www.naukri.com
• www.naukari.com
20. Concurrent Claims
• Concurrent claims arise when two legitimate
parties are involved in a dispute over a
domain name, where each party claims that
they are the true and legitimate owners of
the acquired domain name, without any
intention to pass off.
• Nissan Motors Co. Ltd. Vs Nissan Computer
Corporation:
• www.nissan.com
• www.nissan.net
• www.nissan.com
• www.nissan.net
21. Remedies for Domain name Disputes
• URDP- Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy is a
policy adopted by ICANN that provides a mechanism for
trademark owners to obtain domain names from cyber
squatters.
• The first dispute under the ICANN policy was decided on
January 14, 2000, and has been published by theWIPO,
which provided the single panelist.
22. Remedies for Cyber Squatting
Victims of cyber squatting have several options to combat
cybersquatting. These options include:
a. sending cease-and-desist letters to the cybersquatter,
b. Bringing an Arbitration proceeding under ICANN’s rules
(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is
the nonprofit organization that oversees the domain name
registration system), or
c. Bringing a lawsuit.
23. • Disputes over web addresses are gaining ground in
india over the past few years.
• Along the lines of the Anti Cybersquatting Act of the
US and there by send a strong signal to the
cybersquatters that we are not going to take intellectual
property violations in the cyberspace lightly.
