Cyber-Squatting

[slashcom]

Hello This is a theoretical Question

I have heard about the Cyber-Squatting laws but i don't understand them please help:

What i think it is is that if you regaster a domain and you have no right to do so (e.g www.michaeljackson.com and your called Fred Bloggs) and michael jackson can take your domain

Is this right ?

Also if You have a domain and you have rights to have it can a Big Company Take it (e.g your called Alan Inseuvin and yo make movies and you have www.aimovie.com then The Movie A.I. comes out can they take the domain)

???????????
Thanks Alot

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Your examples are not just theoretical. These incidents have happened. However, domain name disputes are governed by a group called "WIPO" - World Intellectual Property Organization (wipo.org), whose rulings are their own and not always consistent.

A general rule of applicability that I think you can find from the madness that exists in this area is similar to a summary of the goals and general rules of trademark. There should not exist a likelihood of confusion in the market, combined with the rule that if the name is more unique then confusion is more likely and protection granted for using a name with a product.

For example, the names "Coca-Cola" or "Pepsi-Cola" are unique brand names. They are made up and anyone using them would likely be using them because they will be confused with someone else's trade name. "Lights, Inc." might not be protected since "light" is a word and many companies might use the words "light" to describe their business and need to use the word or similar variation to describe their business. The more unique the name, the greater the chance of protection. Now let's move to the examples you gave.

If you used the domain name Michael Jackson to sell merchandise that is related to Michael Jackson, you could be prosecuted under a variety of trademark and unfair competition theories. You would be using his name to sell his merchandise and it is likely to appear that a buyer would think that it is his site. However, if you used the domain to display the life of a fictional character named Michael Jackson who is a firefighter, that should not present a problem, despite the fact that the famous singer Michael Jackson would be mad as hell. that he'll have to settle for another domain name if you don't sell.

However, it's not always that simple since WIPO decisions are also very much governed by the intent of the owner (some trademark as well but WIPO isn't bound by traditional trademark law of the court system in the US). Some have been damned by also owning a huge number of names for the purpose of resale, which is known as "hoarding" and then hold it hostage until you pay up, which is known as "cybersquatting."

The second example you give is called "reverse domain name hijacking" because you own your domain but someone else comes along with a product after you registered your domain name and then tries to claim a likelihood of confusion. They are likely to lose. However, it you don't have protection of trademark and they do, they can preclud you from using the name to do business in certain areas. I won't get into that since it is more complex.

I'd say that a good reading source can be found here online. In fact, it was written by a familiar author! I just realized that the articles are offline but will be placed online once again this week. Follow-up to this thread -- thanks for the reminder!