The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Publishes its Interim Report on the Internet Domain Name Process
Geneva, December 22, 1998
Press Releases PR/1998/149
WIPO's Interim Report on The Management of Internet Names and Addresses: Intellectual Property Issues will be published on December 23, 1998. The Interim Report contains draft recommendations which have resulted from an ongoing process of international consultations. WIPO's final recommendations will be reported to its member States and presented to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in a final report in March 1999. The Interim Report is a major step in WIPO's endeavor to address the intellectual property aspects of the domain name system (DNS). The recommendations are aimed at minimizing and resolving domain name disputes which have arisen worldwide as a result of the tension between intellectual property law, especially trademarks, and domain names.
Scope of the Interim Report
The Interim Report makes recommendations with respect to the following four topics:
- best practices designed to minimize conflicts arising out of domain name registrations
- the need for uniform dispute resolution procedures
- protection for famous and well-known marks
- the impact of adding new top-level domains on intellectual property
The consultation process has highlighted the functional similarity between generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and country code top-level domains (ccTLDs, such as .fr for France, .au for Australia and .eg for Egypt). As a result, while WIPO's recommendations are directed towards the gTLDs, they may be equally useful in all TLDs in which domain names are freely bought and sold.
Some Key Recommendations
- WIPO has proposed a series of best practices to be adopted by registration authorities and users in order to minimize conflicts that can arise from the registration of domain names. The recommendations focus on the development of effective contractual arrangements for domain name registrations, and suggest a number of important improvements:
- The requirement that applicants provide reliable and accurate contact details, with cancellation of the domain name in case of non-compliance.
- The availability and establishment of searchable databases containing contact information. WIPO also proposes means to accommodate privacy concerns that might be associated with access to such databases.
- WIPO proposes a uniform administrative dispute-resolution procedure, aimed at resolving domain name conflicts rapidly and cost effectively. This procedure could be conducted on-line and would supplement traditional court litigation as a means of resolving domain name disputes. Special decision-making criteria would be applied so as to effectively prohibit abusive domain name practices, thereby addressing many of the concerns of owners of famous and well-known marks.
- In evaluating the impact of the possible addition of new gTLDs on intellectual property, WIPO provisionally concludes that new gTLDs could be introduced without undue harm to the protection of intellectual property, provided that:
- the improved registration practices and dispute resolution procedures it recommends are implemented; and
- the new gTLDs are introduced in a controlled manner which allows the monitoring of the efficacy of the proposed new practices and procedures.
Future Consultations
WIPO is seeking international consensus on the recommendations at hand. So far the views of more than one thousand participants from the public and private sectors have been taken into consideration. WIPO has also benefited from the professional and technical expertise of an international Panel of Experts. A second series of regional consultations to gather information and views on the Interim Report will be held in 1999, as follows:
Toronto, Canada January 19, 1999
Singapore January 22, 1999
São Paulo, Brazil February 4, 1999
Dakar, Senegal February 10, 1999
Brussels, Belgium February 17, 1999
Washington DC, USA February __, 1999
WIPO now invites comments on the Interim Report, under cover of the third Request for Comments, RFC-3 available at (http://wipo2.wipo.int).
For further details please consult this web site or contact WIPO's Office of Legal and Organization Affairs:
Tel: (+ 41 22) 338 91 64
Fax: (+ 41 22) 740 37 00
E-mail: susan.olesen@wipo.int