Abstract
Domain names have a dual role in today’s internet driven market place – to map IP addresses and to act as identifier of trademark of a company. Unlike trademarks, domain names are not sufficiently protected by the laws of a country. There is no uniformity to protect domain names among the laws of various countries. In order to protect the domain names and bring uniformity, ICANN developed the Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy (UDRP). In this research, the various kinds of domain name abuses are identified. The application of UDRP, domain name registration process and dispute resolution service process are examined. The major domain name dispute cases resolved under UPRP by WIPO are studied. It has been found that UDRP is applicable to generic top level domains (gTLDs) and new gTLDs. It is much less relevant for country code top level domains (ccTLDs). The losing party still has the option of appealing to a court of competent jurisdiction in case of gTLDs and new gTLDs. However, this option is seldom exercised. In order to protect the domain names in a better way, there is a need to bring uniformity to domain name laws of various countries. ICANN should formulate a model domain names dispute resolution law for adoption by various countries. Also, there is a need to strengthen the UDRP.
Highlights
In the current internet driven marketplace, trademark have emerged as the vital tool of ecommerce
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) UPRP is playing its part in resolving the domain name disputes
Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy (UDRP) cases can be resolved by parties upon mutual agreement
Summary
In the current internet driven marketplace, trademark have emerged as the vital tool of ecommerce. Companies are increasingly seeking to leverage the offline reputation of their trademarks to the online world (Lipton, 2005) This is done with the help of the Domain Name System (DNS). In 1980’s, ICANN established 7 gTLDs - 4 restricted (.edu, .gov, .int, and .mil) and 3 unrestricted (.com, .org, and .net). Along with new gTLDs, introduction of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) by ICANN made significant changes to the global DNS landscape. IDNs are formed by taking characters from different scripts like Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic or Devanagari (IDN, 2018) These developments in gTLDs have created new opportunities to engage with customers, drive revenue and promote brands online (Roesler, 2015). It is administered by ICANN in cooperation with the Internet technical community under the guidance of Internet Architecture Board (http://archive.icann.org/en/tlds/)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
