The United Nations has warned that planned newtop-level web domain (TLD) namescould
cause trademark wars and other problems without stringent controls
to prevent abuse.
Specialised UN agency, the
World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo), has expressed
its concerns to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (Icann).
Wipo has warned that Icann's plans to allow organisations to
create their own TLDs will make the task of monitoring trademark
abuse "nearly unmanageable", the
Financial Times reports.
The plan will greatly increase the current list of 21 TLDs,
which include .com, .net and .org, later this year to include more
individualised domains using company names or other trademarks.
This will make it even easier for cybersquatters
to register domains to profit from other people's trademarks or
hold them to ransom, according to Francis Gurry, Wipo director
general.
Tom Scourfield, a lawyer at CMS Cameron McKenna, said domain
name proliferation could increase the number of expensive legal
disputes if several companies or organisations laid claim to the
same name.
He said the coming domain name expansion would make it more
important than ever for trademark owners to have a clear brand
protection strategy.
Icann has agreed that the UN agency will deal with challenges by
trademark holders to proposals for new TLDs, but Wipo wants
stronger rules to govern domain registrars.
Wipo wants sanctions to discourage registrars from knowingly
registering web addresses that violate trademark rights or failing
to put in place reasonable procedures for protecting such
rights.
Sanctions for breaching the rules could include injunctions to
cease registrations of particular names or the cancellation of the
registrar's contract with Icann.