Allegations of cybersquatting, or holding web domain names hostage for profit, rose to record levels in 2008 with even greater increases looming, the United Nations’ agency for intellectual property rights said today.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a record of 2,329 complaints of such squatting – an 8 per cent increase over 2007 – were filed last year, mostly by trademark holders whose names were reserved on the web by other parties.
The increasing number of cases filed with its Arbitration and Mediation Center is occurring at a time when many more domain slots are about to be launched by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), it warned.
Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General, expressed deep concern over that expansion. “Cybersquatting remains a serious issue for trademark holders,” he said, recalling his agency’s caution that new domains should be introduced in a monitored and controlled manner.
“The sale and broad expansion of new top level domains in the open market, if not properly managed, will provide abundant opportunities for cybersquatters to seize old ground in new domains,” he warned.
In any case, the agency said it is certain its caseload will continue to increase. In order to tackle the build-up, it has proposed a completely electronic dispute-resolution procedure.
Complainants in domain name disputes last year were mainly from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Spain, WIPO said.
The agency said that the 2008 cases reflected a wide variety of sectors, involving names of upcoming events, such as the Madrid 2016 Olympic bid, to educational institutions, for example John Hopkins University, to personalities of the past (Gene Kelly, for example).