The role of registrars Each year, the USTR collects complaints from intellectual property rights holders. For the year 2018, the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, ASOP Global, shared its experience in a letter to the USTR on October 5, 2018. In this contribution, ASOP Global intended to address the problem of illegal drugs at the…
The World Intellectual Property Day takes place every year on April 26th. The 2019 edition is dedicated to the sport. © WIPO – We recommend reading the excellent special issue of WIPO Magazine (wipo.int) The birth of a star. Counterfeiting and cybersquatting are measured against the popularity of athletes and brands concerned. An example perfectly…
Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC) launches a new Registry lock service for the extensions it manages: .hk, .com.hk, .公司.hk, .公司.香港 et .香港. As a reminder, the registry lock allows blocking any transfer, WHOIS contact update or authoritative nameservers modification at a registry level. Actions of locking and unlocking domains obey to a specific…
At the conclusion of the WIPO D2019-0263 case, the panelist rejected the request from Groupement des cartes bancaires to obtain the transfer of the domain name cb.markets (WIPO, D2019-0263, Grouping Bank Cards v. Domain Administrator, Coinbase, Inc., April 2, 2019, denied). It is essentially on the ground of the criterion relating to the right or…
Since the new gTLDs offer new opportunities for brand owners, they also offer cybersquatters the same opportunities. It suffices to observe the (more or less recent) decisions made under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization to note an upsurge in cybersquatting by the registration and use of non-similar domain names (typosquatting) but identical…
Unsurprisingly, there has never been so much cybersquatting. Figures from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center indicate that “the number of cybersquatting cases at WIPO increases by 12% to reach a new record in 2018” (wipo.int, March 15, 2019). WIPO is one of the institutions accredited by the Internet Corporation for…
Back in 2016, IP Twins released a communication on the increase of cybersquatting of trademark applications before the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Indeed, EUIPO currently publishes trademark applications as soon as they are filed. Cybersquatters only have to scan the EUIPO website for new application and automatically register the corresponding .COM domains in seconds,…
Originally scheduled for January 16, 2019, the launch of .INC is postponed until March 27, 2019. Eligibility “to be eligible to submit a Registration Request in the Sunrise Period, a Sunrise Applicant must be the registrant of a corresponding TMCH entry and the domain name sought must correspond to the entire eligible text of one…
Google Registry recently announced the upcoming availability of the .DEV top-level domain. 1 Sunrise Period: January 16, 2019 – February 19, 2019 Sunrise period where trademark holders who have submitted their trademark to the Trademark Clearinghouse can register .dev domains. Sunrise for .dev. This means if you are a trademark owner and your trademark has been submitted…
IMPORTANT: Originally scheduled for January 16, 2019, the launch of .INC is postponed until March 27, 2019. See the updated calendar here. Eligibility “to be eligible to submit a Registration Request in the Sunrise Period, a Sunrise Applicant must be the registrant of a corresponding TMCH entry and the domain name sought must correspond to…
If by chance it came to the idea of Marvel fans to visit the website that is designated by the domain AvengersEndgame.com, they would not see Stan Lee’s work showing Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Dr. Stephen Strange, Black Panther or other superheroes, but the unexpected anti-hero Deadpool! The AvengersEndgame.com domain name…
BMW had to initiate a UDRP proceeding to get the domain name bmẉ.com [xn--bm-e3s.com], therefore containing the letter “w” with a diacritic dot. The respondent in the UDRP proceedings did not participate, and the decision appears relatively ordinary. However, it contains a reminder on an obvious but yet necessary legal point: “Previous UDRP panels have…
On May 17, 2018, the ICANN Board of Directors adopted the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data. The purpose of these contractual provisions is to enable ICANN-accredited registrars to continue to comply with ICANN’s contractual framework in the light of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016…
Éditions Neressis is a French company that runs a real estate website called “PAP, Particulier à Particulier”. This company owns the French trademark No. 1518035 “P.A.P. Particulier à Particulier” (classes 16, 35 and 41), the European Union trademark No. 006701973 “PAP” (classes 16, 35, 38, 41), and the domain name pap.fr. This website pap.fr is…
IP Twins takes domain watches to the next level. In addition to our domain monitoring reports carefully curated by your account manager, we now offer a daily alert service for newly identified domains. With these alerts, you will be able to act more swiftly against security attacks on your brand or your customers and partners:…
On 5th October 2018, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre published a decision related to the domain name fly-scanner.com and ordered that the domain name remains with the respondent (D2018-1782). This decision may appear as surprising at first sight given Skyscanner’s huge market share and 60 million active users. Let’s try and understand the decision. The Complainant…
Louis Vuitton is suing 23 natural and legal persons in Florida for various infringements of its trademarks (Case 0: 18-cv-62354-CMA). Not less than 120 domain names and websites are concerned. Some domain names reproduce Louis Vuitton trademarks (eg louisvuittonbag.site, uslouisvuitton.co, prezzi-lvborse.org), while others include a term indicating the likely presence of counterfeits (eg: aaaimitationbags.com, fashionfakeseason.com,…
Now is a good time to register or renew your trademark record at the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) for several years! The TMCH is now offering important discounts on multiannual registration or renewal. TMCH fees for a 3-years subscription will fall from $405 to $285, and from $675 to $475 for a 5-years registration or renewal,…
The sunrise period for registration of .FAN domain names is open from October 2, 2018 to December 1, 2018. Since DNS is public, fans use domain names with the names of their idols, artists or sports people. These domain names are very often subject to UDRP (or other DRP) procedures. Celebrities are generally advised to…
The sunrise period for .PAGE domain names will end on October 1st, 2018. This new gTLD is intended for a wide audience. The offer generated by the new gTLDs market facilitates access to domain names so that cybersquatting risks are greater. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires registries to set up sunrise…
The University of Cambridge started a UDRP proceeding under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Arbitration and Mediation Center to obtain the transfer of the unsettling domain name carnbridge.org. The transfer of the domain name was ordered (WIPO, D2018-1542, The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge v. Sunny Legend, September…
The new generic top-level domain (gTLD) .CHARITY was launched last 9 August 2018, and is now available to the general public. There are no registration requirements for .CHARITY domains, which may, of course, be used in relation to individuals and organizations engaged in philanthropy, charitable giving, cause-related fundraising, and other philanthropic initiatives to concretize online…
The announcement of a commercial partnership between Nestlé (nestle.com, May 7, 2018) and Starbucks (starbucks.com, August 28, 2018) led to cybersquatting cases. Many domain names combining the “nestle” and “starbucks” trademarks were registered. DRP proceedings were initiated, including the D2018-1183 procedure undertaken by the Nestlé Products Corporation against a US citizen who had registered two…
The new gTLD .SPORT targets federations, sports organizations, clubs, teams, their athletes, their sponsors, but also sports brands and the media. SPORTt has its rules, so the .SPORT. Eligibility rules apply. The choice of domain names is not free and, for now, the time of registration either. First Rule: Eligibility Sport is for everyone, not the…
The latest in a string of suits filed by the estate of the recording artist Prince (Prince Estate), a New Jersey-based domain name trader, Domain Capital, is being accused of cybersquatting by the Prince Estate for registering the domain name <prince.com> (Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc. and Comerica Bank & Trust, NA as Personal Representative of…
Innovation HQ, Inc. has owned the domain weeds.com for several years. At the end of 2017, the domain name led to a single page with links made up of generic terms related to horticulture and gardening. This page also announced that the domain name was for sale. Weeds, Inc. owns trademarks that include the word…
A Chinese citizen, Mr. C., is suing another, Mr. L., before the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in the United States, on the ground of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). This in rem proceeding concerns the following domain names: 789365.com, 402013.com, 402014.com, 402015.com and vip999365.com (Xiaomei Chen v. Lin Bing Jun,…
Several gTLDs will be launched in the upcoming weeks: .COM in Hebrew: קום. Verisign, which manages in particular the .COM and .NET top-level domains, announced the launch of .COM in Hebrew characters. The launch calendar is as follows: 30/07 – 04/09: Sunrise period for TMCH records holders only 05/09 – 01/10: Priority registrations for the…
The judicial battle between the French government and France.com, Inc., which occurs in France and the United States, also takes place before the European Union courts. France.com, Inc. had filed an application for European trademark. This application referred to a semi-figurative sign composed of i) the name “France.com” and, ii) a pentagon in the colors…
The sunrise period of the top level domain dedicated to the real estate business is approaching. Registrations will run from July 28 to August 27, 2018. IP Twins is an accredited registrar with extensive experience and strong expertise in sunrise period procedures. We can assist you in the preparation of your .realestate domain name registration…
A Taiwanese company registered the disputed domain name senec.com in 2002. A German company, the owner of European trademarks “SENEC”, initiated a UDRP procedure. On the day of receipt of the UDRP complaint by the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (AMC-WIPO), the domain name gave access to a parking page…
The Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) procedure to obtain the transfer of a domain name is a straightforward proceeding, within which the evidentiary requirement is rather low. To obtain a favorable decision, the Complainant must satisfy three conditions: the domain name must be identical or similar to a trademark to which the Complainant has rights;…
The media has reported what is now known as France.com. Just as many are those who echoed the arguments of one of the protagonists. However, the case has not yet been decided as it is much more complex than it seems. The decision must be concluded with caution. The story of the France.com domain name…
In the field of intellectual property, a troll is an individual or a company that produces nothing but shows enough audacity to initiate proceedings to have an infringement of its alleged rights recognized. In 2014, the Troll producer won a UDRP case concerning two domain names: orientaldreamworks.com and shanghaidreamworks.com (D2014-0171, Dreamworks Animation LLC v. Hongyun…
