Many companies have been slow to identify and react to the challenges of domain name management, says Maggie Ramage of the Institute of Trademark Attorneys, but simple steps can be taken to avoid the most serious threats to trademarks.
Many companies have been slow to identify and react to the challenges of domain name management, says Maggie Ramage of the Institute of Trademark Attorneys, but simple steps can be taken to avoid the most serious threats to trademarks.
Domain names allow computers to distinguish between millions of web pages on the Internet, enabling users to send and receive messages by email, access web pages and establish an online identity. A domain name is an Internet address in the same way that a telephone number uniquely identifies a telephone line connected to the global telephone network. No two organisations can have the same domain name in the same way that no two people can have the same telephone number.
Internet users expect a domain name consisting of a trademark in commercial use to be associated with the owner of the trademark and not with a third party. This has led to widespread litigation and recovery proceedings, because as domain names are sold on a ‘first come, first served’ basis, it is quite often the case that someone who does not have the legal right to own that domain acquires it anyway, often in the hope that they can sell it back to the rightful owner of the trademark.
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itma, domains, idns, maggie ramage
