« Domain Name Tasting | Main | Intellectual property for businesses in Australia »
Domain name disputes 2007 update
WIPO reports that in 2007, a record 2,156 complaints alleging cybersquatting - or the abusive registration of trademarks on the Internet - were filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center (Center), representing an 18% increase over 2006 and a 48% increase over 2005.
WIPO parties have settled a quarter of all cases without a panel decision. Of the remainder, 85% of panel decisions have ordered transfer of the domain names in question to the complainant and 15% of the complaints were denied, leaving the names in the possession of the registration holder.
The top five sectors for complainant business activity were Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Banking and Finance, Internet and IT, Retail, and Entertainment.
March 31, 2008 in Legal, Web/Tech | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341d4c5453ef00e55184cf498833
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Domain name disputes 2007 update:
Comments
The very idea that an individual -or- a particular corporation could "own" a given domain name is very shaky.
In the online realm, names can mean different things to different people and in all fairness, the only rule that should prevail is first-come, first served.
For instance, why should "Apple Computer" be the only planetary owner of "apple dot anything"? It's non-sense considering the Cupertino giant doesn't even deal with the apple, as a fruit (which is the primary concept, for the word).
In this light, the WIPO appears to be a cheap alternative to costly litigation for billionnaire companies to get their hands on very valuable domains.
Concentrating all the world's value into the same greedy hands is the very source of many of our Earthly problems, right now.
Posted by: Claude Gelinas | 1 Apr 2008 06:03:25
Subscribe in a reader
