Cybersquatting Should Be Curtailed at the Registar Level: A Proposal by Mairead Moore

Cybersquatting: Prevention better than cure? by Mairead Moore – Research

Abstract: Since the early Commercialisation of the World Wide Web, cybersquatting as a phenomenon has been in existence and has been consistently rising; with recent 2006 figures showing a 25% increase up from the previous year.

This paper examines the various legal mechanisms that have been employed to deal with cybersquatting by examining firstly, the reaction of the Courts and secondly, the reaction of the registering authorities. Finally the paper looks at some of the more recent attempts to curb cybersquatting at the registration level by the employment of phased registration periods and additionally some radical solutions suggested in some circles will also be examined.

The paper concludes that while the reactive strategies developed by the Courts and the registering authorities are effective once cybersquatting is committed, the real solution must surely lie in preventative action at the registration stage if the battle to curb cybersquatting is finally to be won.
http://ijlit.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ean005

While new proposals for curbing cybersquatting are always interesting, the reality is that there is almost no reasonable expectation that the dispute resolution policies will change anytime soon. And it is unlikely that ICANN will place any more responsibility on registrars, many of whom charge low fees to register domains because they have little overhead for customer support, let alone policing trademarks. Technorati Tags: cybersquatting, trademark, domain name, icann