WIPO urges tradename protection for new domains

June 3, 2005 —

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is suggesting some safeguards to stop cybersquatters from grabbing trademark-protected names under new generic Internet domain names.

WIPO is recommending a "uniform intellectual property (IP) protection mechanism" to prevent illegal domain name registrations in any new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), the organization said earlier this week in a statement.

Its report, "New Generic Top Level Domains: Intellectual Property Considerations," was commissioned by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization responsible for overseeing the domain name system (DNS).

"Given the value of trademarks and other identifiers and the importance of the Internet as a commercial communication and marketing channel, rights owners are understandably worried that their identifiers fall victim to deceptive and abusive practices on the Internet," the report states. "Undermining the status of such identifiers also compromises the credibility of the DNS and consumers

IDG News Service