CYBERSQUATTING AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPACTS
INTRODUCTION
Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting), according to the United states federal law is known
as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. Cybersquatting is considered as registering,
trafficking in or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark
belonging to someone else. The Cybersquatters deliberately exploit the first come first served nature
of the domain name registration system and then the cybersquatters offers to sell the domain to the
person or company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price. In India,
there is no legislation which explicitly refers to dispute resolution in connection with cyber squatting
or other domain name disputes and therefore cyber squatting cases are decided under Trade Mark
Act, 1999. The Trade Marks Act, 1999 used for protecting use of trademarks in domain names is not
extra-territorial and therefore it does not allow for adequate protection of domain names. The remedy
that prevails is an action for passing off and the infringement of trademarks in absence of proper cyber
laws. Passing off is a species of unfair trade competition by which one person seeks to profit from
the reputation of another in a particular trade or business. The action against passing off is based on
the principle enunciated in N. R. Dongre v. Whirlpool case wherein the courts said that “a man may
not sell his own goods under the pretence that they are the goods of another man.” Due to the
increasing number of cases related to cyber squatting people have started resorting to alternate
methods of dispute resolution in this field specially Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution
Process (UDNDRP) devised by the International Corporation for Assigned Number and Names
(ICANN) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Council,
instead of relying on the formal legal procedure.
OBJECTIVE
Cyber squatting has robbed businesses of their fortune. This paper would look at the current situation
prevailing in the world and it can be safely assumed that cyber squatting is a menace, a menace which
has no boundaries. This paper would look to highlight the problems related to cyber squatting and the
various jurisdictions and why is there an urgent need to draft a new legislation in India which would
expressly deal with domain names. This paper would majorly focus on three pronged approach which
would go a long way in completely eradicating these squatters.
THEORETICAL DEBATE
The INDRP needs to be given the effect of law, rather than just being a guiding policy. The problem
with it being a policy is that it is not mandatory to follow, hence the regime is lax. The INDRP which
is drafted on the lines of the UDRP, still has many dissimilarities which impede its application and
effectiveness. Thus the inconsistencies viz., arbitration procedure under INDRP is fraught with
unnecessary procedural norms; they both differ on the domain names in many places. Thus the need
of the hour is to make it more compliant with UDRP and give it the shape of law.
CONTRIBUTION
By providing an investigative look into cyber squatting laws in India which is an overall an
understudied research topic, the current study will look to offer several potential academic
contribution. This study will also attempt to do an analysis of the economic effects of cyber squatting.
CHAPTERISATION
INTRODUCTION
Cybersquatting is the practice of registering an Internet domain name that is likely to be wanted by
another person, business, or organization in the hope that it can be sold to them for a profit. It involves
the registration of trademarks and trade names as domain names by third parties, who do not possess
rights in such names. Simply put, cybersquatters (or bad faith imitators) register trade-marks, trade
names, business names and so on, belonging to third parties with the common motive of trading on
the reputation and goodwill of such third parties by either confusing customers or potential customers,
and at times, to even sell the domain name to the rightful owner at a profit.
DOMAIN NAME BASICS
It is essential to understand the technical background against which the issues in the paper have arisen.
Each website on the Internet has an IP address behind the name. Every web server requires a Domain
Name Server (DNS) system to translate domain name in to IP address. IP address is string of numbers
such as 192.168.20.254.The domain name is made up of characters that are easier to be remembered.
CATEGORIES OF CYBER SQUATTING
Cyber squatting can be of various categories, most commonly seen is typo squatting, when a cyber
squatter registers domain names containing variant of popular trademarks.
EFFECTS OF CYBER SQUATTING
In India, there is no legislation which explicitly refers to dispute resolution in connection with cyber
squatting or other domain name disputes.The Trade Marks Act, 1999 used for protecting use of
trademarks in domain names is not extra- territorial, therefore, it does not allow for adequate
protection of domain names.
CASE STUDY
First Cyber squatting Case (Word Wrestling Federation case):
This was the first case decided under the UDRP by WIPO. The proceedings were initiated on Dec 9,
1999.The US based World Wrestling Federation (WWF) brought a suit against a California resident
who registered the domain name “worldwrestlingfederation.com” and offered to sell it to WWF at a
huge dividend a few days later.
CONCLUSION
Cyber squatters have robbed businesses of their fortune. Thus looking at the current situation
prevailing in the world, it can be safely assumed that cyber squatting is a menace, a menace which
has no boundaries. On account of the problems highlighted and the various jurisdictions looked into
there is an urgent need to draft a new legislation in India which would expressly deal with domain
names.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
