India jurisdiction report: Judicial relief in cybersquatting disputes
With the opening up of TLDs, cases of cybersquatting have steadily increased, posing new enforcement challenges to brand owners. This has forced brand owners to look beyond conventional actions under the various domain name dispute resolution policies and approach courts in a quest to obtain blanket orders against stakeholders involved in the domain name registration process.
The Bombay High Court’s June 2020 decision in Hindustan Unilever v Endurance Domains and others sheds light on the nature of judicial reliefs that can be granted in cases of cybersquatting in India. This order also delved into the role registrars play during domain name registrations.
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), one of India’s largest business houses, owns and operates the domain name www.hul.co.in and its global parent owns and operates www.unilever.com. HUL had filed an application against several fraudulent third-party domain name holders.
