DEFINITION

Cybersquatting is a practice consisting in registering, buying or using domain names in order to resell them at higher prices or to cause prejudice to individuals or organizations having legitimate interests to use the name (for example, a person or a company which owns a trademark identical or confusingly similar to the domain name). The cybersquatter has no legitimate interest to use, register or buy the domain name but he acts in bad faith to take advantage from the other’s need to use or own the domain name.

The ownership of a relevant domain name plays an essential role in the success of your company on the web. Therefore, it can be particularly harmful for a company to be deprived of a domain name referring or reproducing its commercial name, trademark.

 

Most of the EU countries have adopted laws forbidding cybersquatting. In addition to court remedies, victims of cybersquatting can submit a complaint to an approved dispute-resolution service provider. Such dispute-resolution service is often more effective, quicker and less costly than going before courts.

 

The following dispute-resolution service providers are approved by the ICANN and follow the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy as well as their own supplemental rules.

-          Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre;

-          CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution;

-          eResolution [eRes];

-          The National Arbitration Forum;

-          World Intellectual Property Organization

ICANN:

 

UDRP:

 

Approved providers for Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy

 

Wikepedia on Cybersquatting:

 

Article on typosquatting and the .eu top level domain name:

UDRP

ICANN

Typosquatting

Domain name slamming

Domain name system

WHOIS