WIPO Internet Domain Names Process

Geneva, July 14, 1998
Press Releases PR/1998/129

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is undertaking an international process to develop recommendations for the intellectual property issues associated with Internet domain names, including dispute resolution. The recommendations resulting from the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process will be made available to the non-profit organization that is being formed to manage the technical and policy aspects of the Internet domain name system (DNS). The request to WIPO stems from the publication on June 5, 1998 of a Statement of Policy on "Management of Internet Names and Addresses" by the Department of Commerce of the United States of America, which followed extensive discussions and public debate internationally.

This WIPO Internet Domain Name Process is being convened in the spirit of developing consensus among the stakeholders of the Internet, including representatives of the technical, trademark and public interest community. All those who are interested in following or participating in the process are invited to visit the WIPO web site at https://www.wipo.int and click on "Internet Domain Names".

Domain names are the addresses of computers connected to the Internet. They are required to ensure that people can send e-mails and visit web sites. The organization and management of the DNS have been the subject of intense debate throughout the world over the past two years. These discussions have been motivated by a desire to ensure that the management of the DNS is institutionalized in a manner which will permit the system to accommodate the growing volume of traffic on the Internet and to be administered in a competitive and open way, taking into account the interests of all Internet stakeholders.

One of the important issues considered in the course of these discussions is the relationship between domain names and trademarks. While domain names were originally intended to perform only the function of facilitating connectivity between computers through the Internet, domain names have come to constitute a form of business identifier, because they are easy to remember and use. Businesses have started to realize the significant potential of web sites as a primary means of facilitating electronic commerce. By using trademarks as their domain names, businesses hope to attract potential customers to their web sites and increase their market visibility, and ultimately their sales and profits. Domain names are now used routinely in advertising as a means of indicating the presence of an enterprise or business on the Internet.

With the growth of the Internet, domain names have increasingly come into conflict with trademarks. The possibility of such conflict arises from the lack of connection between the system for registering trademarks, on the one hand, and the system for registering domain names, on the other hand. The former system (trademarks) is administered by a public (governmental) authority on a territorial (either national or regional) basis which gives rise to rights on the part of the trademark holder that may be exercised within the territory. The latter system (domain names) is usually administered by a non-governmental organization without any functional limitation: domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis and offer a unique, global presence on the Internet.

The differences in the systems for registering trademarks and domain names have been exploited by persons who have made it a practice to register, as domain names for themselves, the trademarks of other persons or enterprises ("cybersquatting").

Conflicts between domain names and trademarks present unusual features that stretch the capacity of the ordinary judicial system. That system is also territorially based, so that it cannot always provide a comprehensive solution to a conflict with a global dimension.

Furthermore, litigation can be slow and expensive, factors that can produce a de facto situation in which it may be quicker and cheaper for a trademark holder to deal with a cybersquatter and buy back its rights to a domain name, rather than seek to retrieve those rights through litigation.

WIPO has received indications that there is considerable international support for it to initiate the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process. In carrying out this process, WIPO will endeavor to obtain the widest possible geographical and sectoral participation. It will use a combination of Internet-based consultations and face-to-face hearings throughout the various regions of the world. WIPO will be assisted in carrying out the process by a representative group of experts. WIPO will cooperate closely with the new organization that is being formed to manage the DNS, eventually providing it with a set of recommendations resulting from the process.

For more detailed information, please contact the Electronic Commerce Section: