International Law

More and more domain name disputes

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog looks at the rising numbers of domain name disputes:

Any securitization lawyers out there looking for work? We?ve got a suggestion. Litigate domain-name disputes!

We love domain-name disputes. You know, like when Nutrisystem files a complaint against some cybersquatter who registered www.nutrisystems.com? Or the when F. Hoffmann-La Roche, the maker of Valium, files a grievance against someone who registered www.prescriptionvalium.com? Or when The Donald goes after some dude who registered www.trumptajmahal.com?

There?s something about them that takes us back to those crazy dot-com days at the turn of the millenium. But who knew that these disputes are hotter than ever? It turns out that the number of complaints filed by trademark owners against cybersquatters under the ?Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy? (UDRP) hit an all-time high in 2007, according to this data from the World Intellectual Property Organization. Check this out:

1999: 1
2000: 1,857
2001: 1,557
2002: 1,207
2003: 1,100
2004: 1,176
2005: 1,456
2006: 1,824
2007: 2,156

We checked in with Doug Isenberg ... a lawyer in Atlanta who runs The GigaLaw Firm, a solo practice specializing in representing companies in domain-name disputes and other areas of Internet law. Isenberg, who also maintains a blog on these issues called GigaLaw, attributes the ever-increasing number of disputes to the continued growth of companies doing business on the Web and the growing number of cyberscams.

Read more here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on January 11, 2008 (boomark / email).