Tuesday, February 20, 2001
Geneva, Switzerland
Intellectual Property Questions Relating to the ccTLDs
The WIPO Report on the Internet Domain Name Process (April 30, 1999) formulated recommendations aimed at alleviating intellectual property conflicts in the gTLDs. Since the publication of the Report, many of the measures that it advocated have been adopted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the entry into effect of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, in particular, has had a major impact in reducing the opportunity for bad faith cybersquatting in the gTLDs.
As a result of their growing popularity, the ccTLDs are becoming increasingly the object of attention and the management of intellectual property conflicts in the country code domains has emerged as one of the key policy questions in this regard. At the request of its Member States, WIPO launched a cooperation program for the administrators of ccTLDs to advise them on intellectual property strategy and management for their domains, including dispute prevention and resolution.
As part of that program, the WIPO Conference on Intellectual Property Questions Relating to the ccTLDs meant to serve as a forum where the ccTLD and intellectual property communities could meet and exchange views on the challenges ahead. Particular attention was devoted to future trends for the country domains, the treatment of intellectual property in the ccTLDs from the various regions of the world, and how rightsholders are coping with infringements. At the occasion of the Conference, an announcement was made of the Proposed WIPO ccTLD Best Practices, a voluntary set of intellectual property guidelines for the benefit of ccTLD administrators.