Question: Many companies force domain owners to unregister a domain because its name contains a trademark (esp. Germany). Will anyone who has a domain have to register it as a trademark just to avoid a takeover and to keep his domain? What about the first-come-first-serve system?

Nominee Replies

Andy Mueller-Maguhn - posted on 2000-10-02 01:03:47 ICANN should point out very clearly, that the current Name Space is not taking place under trade mark law. UDRP with the WIPO-option has brought name space holders in a problematic situation, and UDRP sends out the wrong signals. I would strongly urge ICANN to solve this situation by defining a new name space for trademark holders like .TM - and if this is regionally different, than have it also as a secondary domain in the different CC´s. So, first-come-first-serve is one way of doing it, recognizing trade mark laws another. Naturally, there is no reason why these to ways shouldn´t have their own space to take place. Also, the UDRP must be evaluated ASAP; it is not user legitimated at all. Olivier Muron - posted on 2000-09-28 07:29:03 As long as you use the domain name faithfully, under the UDRP you will not have to unregister your domain. In most cases you won't need to register the name as a trademark. You should register it as a trademark only if you plan to use the domain name as your brand and want to protect it. Winfried Schueller - posted on 2000-09-27 04:31:44 The UDRP is the first approach towards an unacceptable habit of cybersquatting caused by the first-come-first-serve system. UDRP is not a law, but a possibility to fight against cybersquatters. However, if a company thinks that their name or trademark is misused they will always have the possibility to sue someone. Companies having a domain which they are not using as cybersquatters have a very good chance to keep their domain because of the first-come-first-serve saystem. Off course, even better would be if the company has registered a trademark. Jeanette Hofmann - posted on 2000-09-26 16:37:54 No, this is certainly not the way to go. The Domain Name System was never meant to reflect real names and trademarks - and it will never be good at this job. If the Intellectual Property people were _really_ clever they would come up with a directory system sophisticated & scalable enough to provide for the locating function that the DNS fulfills so poorly today. Alf Hansen - posted on 2000-09-26 15:11:13 When you register a domain name you get no more rights to use the name than you had before. (There are some exceptions: when you use a domain name for a long time, it may become a trade mark). Under .no you need court order to lose your name. under gTLDs UDRP is ruling. My advice would be to register your domain name also as a trade mark. It may not be protected just as a domain name.