Abstract
Jonathan Ward discusses viability of two means for resolution of disputes related to cybersquatting. Cybersquatting occurs when a party registers a domain name that contains someone else's trademark and then attempts to profit by selling or licensing the name to that party. Cybersquatting tends to be classified as direct cybersquatting and typosquatting, and actions involving domain name conflicts fall in four categories: 1) trademark infringement, 2) confusion of source, 3) dilution of a famous mark, and 4) bad faith registration. Recognizing the growing issue of cybersquatting, Congress passed the Anitcybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in 1999, which provided a litigious avenue for dispute resolution. Around the same time, ICANN (the assignor of domain names) adopted the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, which provided an alternative dispute resolution avenue through arbitration. Mr. Ward presents a comparison between these two options, and concludes that the best method depends on which channel of recourse offers the most benefits at the lowest cost.
Repository Citation
Jonathan M. Ward,
The Rise and Fall of Fences: The Overbroad Protection of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act ,
5 Marq. Intellectual Property L. Rev. 211
(2001).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/iplr/vol5/iss1/6