“What is worth copying is prima
facie worth protecting” – Justice Patterson observed almost a century ago in the
case of University of London v University of Tutorial Ltd.
The exponential growth of websites
and blogs in the cyberspace has raised new legal issues in the realm of Intellectual
Property rights in the cyberspace thereby creating gray areas in the emerging Technology
Law. The
current Domain Name Dispute Resolution Mechanism enables trademark holders to
enforce their legal rights over domain names in the Cyberspace.
The advent of the Internet coupled with globalization and e-commerce has resulted in companies, governments, NGOs, and individuals scrambling for domain names for an online presence to market their goods and services in a global environment.
The explosive demand for domain names has led to cyber squatting and domain name hijacking whereby genuine owners of trademarks including companies having found to their surprise that their domain name has been hijacked by cyber pirates on the Internet which has forced them to get back their legitimate trade mark/domain name after a protracted legal battle involving enormous amount of time and money.
Intellectual Property rights including artistic works, names, images, symbols, designs, layouts are today being misused on the Internet with the click of a mouse. Cyber pirates have found it easy to register domain names that belong to reputed companies, individuals etc with the ulterior motive of cashing in later for a huge profit.
Legal Remedies: Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is currently managed by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which has framed rules and regulations with regard to handling and settling Domain Name Disputes. However the aggrieved party can also approach the appropriate court of law for other remedies.
The various types of Domain Disputes that arise are;
1. Domain Name registered in bad faith
2. Domain Name identical or confusingly similar to a Trademark or a Service Mark.
The Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) provides for domain name dispute resolution mechanisms for .IN domains in India.
The various types of Intellectual Property Disputes in the Cyberspace are;
1. Domain Name Hijacking.
3. Protest websites & hate websites.
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| www.techlegalworld.com |
The advent of the Internet coupled with globalization and e-commerce has resulted in companies, governments, NGOs, and individuals scrambling for domain names for an online presence to market their goods and services in a global environment.
The explosive demand for domain names has led to cyber squatting and domain name hijacking whereby genuine owners of trademarks including companies having found to their surprise that their domain name has been hijacked by cyber pirates on the Internet which has forced them to get back their legitimate trade mark/domain name after a protracted legal battle involving enormous amount of time and money.
Intellectual Property rights including artistic works, names, images, symbols, designs, layouts are today being misused on the Internet with the click of a mouse. Cyber pirates have found it easy to register domain names that belong to reputed companies, individuals etc with the ulterior motive of cashing in later for a huge profit.
Legal Remedies: Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is currently managed by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which has framed rules and regulations with regard to handling and settling Domain Name Disputes. However the aggrieved party can also approach the appropriate court of law for other remedies.
The various types of Domain Disputes that arise are;
1. Domain Name registered in bad faith
2. Domain Name identical or confusingly similar to a Trademark or a Service Mark.
The Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) provides for domain name dispute resolution mechanisms for .IN domains in India.
The various types of Intellectual Property Disputes in the Cyberspace are;
1. Domain Name Hijacking.
3. Protest websites & hate websites.
Conclusion: Start-ups, individuals, NGOs,
proprietorship, partnership, small and medium businesses, and large companies
need to be aware and vigilant in the cyberspace of their legal rights and
enforce them in a timely manner to prevent a protracted legal proceeding which
involves both time and money.
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www.techlegalworld.com
email: support@techlegalworld.com
