Chapter100
WIPODOMAINNAMESDISPUTE
RESOLUTIONPROGRAM
DavidMuls*
MR.MULS:
Thankyouverymuch.Ihopeyoucanstillbearthis,afteravery
longdayandaparticularlyrichsessionjustafewminutesago.
IwilltalkmainlyabouttheUniformDomainNameDisputeResolutionPolicy
（UDRP）adoptedbyICANNandtheexperienceoftheWIPOArbitrationandMediation
CenterasadisputeresolutionproviderunderthatPolicy.
IthinkitisprobablyusefultostartoutbysayingthattheUDRPschemewas
basicallyintendedtoworkaroundtheproblemsthatwerediscussedintheprevious
session,butforaverylimitedsubjectmatter,thatistosay,theabusiveregistrationof
trademarksasdomainnames.
Generallyspeaking,thePolicywassuccessfulindoingthat,butthishasworked
wellbecausethereisagreatdealofuniformityacrossallnationsaboutthefundamental
legalconceptsunderlyingthepolicy.Assoonasthereissignificantdivergenceamong
countriesregardingsomeofthelegalprinciples,wehaveexperiencedthatthePolicy
comesundergreaterstrain.
Justanoutlineofthepresentation:
IwillbrieflyexplainwhatthePolicyisabout;
thengiveyouafeelingoftheWIPOcasestatisticsoverthelastyear;andthenpassto
whatisperhapsthemostinterestingsection,theinterpretationofthesubstantivestandards
underthePolicy;andfinally,Iwillgiveyouafeelingforsomeofthenewestdevelopments
inthearea.
MaybeIshouldaskfirst:
whoisnotfamiliarwiththebasicsoftheICANNPolicy?
EverybodyisfamiliarwiththebasicsoftheICANNPolicyandtheUDRP?
Okay,Ithink
Icanskipthatslidethen.
IntermsoftheWIPOworksincethePolicycameintoeffect,thestatuscanbe
summarizedasfollows.WIPOisoneoffourdisputeresolutionserviceprovidersunder
thePolicy.TheworkstartedinDecember1999,whenWIPOadministeredthefirstcase
andcameoutwiththefirstdecision.Sincethen,atWIPOwehavereceived2,350cases
inthegTLDs-.com,.net,.org-andthirty-fourintheccTLDs.SomeccTLDshave
adoptedthePolicyonavoluntarybasis.
Onaverage,wenowreceiveaboutsixnewcasesperday.Todate,1,866casesin
thegTLDshavebeenresolved.About1,500decisionshavebeenissued,andtherestwere
mainlyterminatedbecauseofasettlement.
Eighty-onepercentoftherulingsareinfavorofthecomplainants.Somemore
explanationaboutthatlater.
Theaveragelengthoftheproceedingsisabouttwomonths.
ThePolicyhasturnedouttobeveryinternationalinnature.Thepartiesinthe
*SeniorCounsellor,ElectronicCommerceDivision,WIPO,Geneva,Switzerland.
INTERNATIONALINTELLECTUALPROPERTYLAW&POLICY
proceedingsfiledtodatecomefromseventy-fourdifferentcountries.Itistrue,however,
thatthereisaverylargeproportionofU.S.complainantsversusU.S.respondents.
Asyouknow,thedecisionsaretakenbyindependentexpertpanelists.WIPOdoes
nottakethedecisions;itadministerstheprocessandappointsthepanelists.Thereare
about200panelistsnowonourlistspecificallyfordomainnamecases,andthose
panelistscomefromthirty-sevendifferentcountries.
Nowletusspendsometimelookingatthemaindecisionsthathavebeentaken
underthePolicy.
Asyouknow,thereisathree-prongedtestthatacomplainanthastomeettobe
successfulunderthePolicy:
first,acomplainanthastodemonstratethatthedomainname
isidenticalorconfusinglysimilartoamarkinwhichithasrights:
onehastodemonstrate
thattheregistranthasnorightsorlegitimateinterestinthedomainname.andonehasto
demonstratethatthedomainnameisregisteredandusedinbadfaith.
SincetheenteringintoforceofthePolicy,therehavebeenanumberofdecisions
thatinterpretthosestandards,andIwouldliketospendsometimeonthemaintrends
thatemergefromthatbodyofcaselaw.Iwillnotnecessarilyfollowtheorderonthe
slide,butallsubjectswillbecovered.
Firstly,thequestionofunregisteredmarks.Itisnowclearthatunregisteredmarks
fallunderthePolicy.Thatwasalreadyclearfromthebeginning,becausethelanguage
says,asyoucansee,"inwhichthecomplainanthasrights."ThePolicyitself,byitsterms.
doesnotrequireregistration,buttherehavebeenafewcasesthathaveconfirmedthat.
sonowitisquiteclearthatunregisteredmarksfallunderthePolicy.
Movingtothesecondpoint,namesofwell-knownpersonsoroffamouspersons.
Thepreviouspointhasallowedabodyofcaselawtodevelopaccordingtowhichfamous
personswhooftendonothaveregisteredmarksfortheirnames-sometimestheydo.
butnotalways-canstillfindreliefunderthePolicy.Thishasstartedwithonecase.the
Jcase,buthasbeenconfirmedbymanycasessincethen-justto
mentionafew:
AlainDelain,JimiHendrix,Madonna,JuliaRoberts.
Thetrendwasveryclear,untilafewmonthsagowhenoneoddcase\',asissued.
theBruceSpringsteencase,whichseemedtogoagainstthoseearlierdecisions.However,
sincethenafewothercaseshaveemerged,inparticular,afewdecidedbyCornishthat
havere-established,webelieveclearly,thatfamouspersonscanobtainreliefunderthe
Policy.Thiswas.forinstance,confirmedbyCornishintheJulieBrowndecision.
Anotherissueconcernswhatisnowreferredtoas"passiveuse."Ifyoulookat
thetermsofthePolicy.thelastconditionisthat"thedomainnamemustberegistered
andusedinbadfaith."
Therewasatremendousamountofdiscussionontheappropriatenessoftheuse
oftheword"and"inthefinalstagesoftheICANNnegotiationsthatledtotheadoption
ofthePolicy.Theintellectualpropertycommunityfeltthatitwouldbemuchmore
appropriatetousetheterm"or,"butICANNinitswisdomdecidedthattheterm"and"
shouldbemaintained.Ithink,quitefrankly,thateverybodynowreallyagreesthatthat
wasamistakeandthatthetermshouldhavebeen"or."
Therecanbeveryclearinstanceswhereadomainnameisregisteredingoodfaith
butlaterusedinbadfaith.Somebodywhoregisters.forinstance,thedomainname
""andinthebeginningusesitlegitimately,butthenlaterstartssellingbooks
thatarenotPenguinBooks,pretendingtheyarePenguinBooks.clearlywouldbe
infringingthetrademark.
Thisproblemhasbeenalleviatedtoaverylargedegreebyadecisionofoneof
thepanelists,ProfessorChristie,inacaserequiringaninterpretationofwhetherthemere
10（-2
WIPODOMAINNAMESDISPUTERESOLUTIONPROGRAM
registrationofadomainnameincertaininstancesmaystillbedeemedtofallunderthe
termsofthePolicyintermsofbadfaith.Thecaseconcernedtelstra.org,wherea
cybersquatterhadregisteredTelstra,afamousAustralianmark,butdidnotdoanything
withit-noWebsite,noe-mailaddress,nothing.Sothequestionwaswhetheritfalls
underthetermsofthePolicy.
InaninterpretationbyProfessorChristie,theconceptofpassiveusewasestab-
lished,wherebasicallytheideaisthefollowing:
ifoneisfacedwithaverywell-known,
strongmark,ifthereareadditionalindiciaofbadfaith,evenifthereisnoactivityunder
thedomainname,itcanstillbeconsideredpassiveuse.Basicallythequestionboilsdown
to:
Isthedomainnameregistranttryingtoplaygameswiththefamousmark?
Ifthere
areadditionalindiciathatestablishsuch,then,evenunderthecurrentlanguageofthe
Policy,theconductwouldbedeemedabusive.
IntheTelstracase,itwasclearthatthoseadditionalindiciawerepresent.The
contactdetailswerenotreliable,itwasaveryfamousmark,thereclearlyweretacticsby
theregistranttotrytoavoidbeingnotifiedofthecomplaint,etcetera,etcetera.
TheconceptofpassiveusehasbroadenedsomewhatthelanguageofthePolicy
and,toacertaindegree,hasalleviatedtheconcernthattheword"or"isnotthereinstead
oftheword"and."
Thenextissueconcernsplacenames,averyinterestingissueandhighlycontro-
versial.Wereceivedalotofcriticism,Iwouldsay,whentheBcasecame
out.TheCityofBarcelonawoninthatcase.Manypeoplefeltthatthatwasawrongdecision.
Sincethen,therehavebeenmoreplacenamecases.ThreeinparticularIwould
liketomention:
S,P,andP.Thosethree
casesseemtosuggestthatBarcelona.conmayhavebeenanisolateddecisionthatisnot
confirmedbythelatercaselaw.
Thethreeothercasesarequiteclearininterpretingnarrowlythepossibilityof
consideringregistrationsofplacenamesasbeingabusive,particularlyiftheactivityby
theregistrantistoprovideinformationontheplace.
Forinstance,inthePandPortofhamina.concases,thereare
Websitesthatareaimedatthemaritimeindustryandthataimtobehelpfultopeople
whoareworkinginthatindustryandwhoneedinformationaboutfacilitiesatports-
hotelsandtransportationservices,etcetera.Bothofthosenameswereregisteredbythe
samecompany,whichhadcreatedasortofportal,sotospeak,oraseriesofWebsites
withseveralportnamesprecededby"portof."ThiswasregardedbythePaneliststobe
aninformation-provisionservicethatislegitimate.
Anotherissuethatwebelieveisamongthemostdifficultrelatestotheso-called
Suckscases.ThequestionwiththeSuckscasesiswhetheractivityis,inAmerican
terminology,freespeech,andwhetheritthereforefallsunder"legitimaterightsand
interests"asrecognizedinthesecondconditionofthePolicy.
Primafacie,onecouldsaythatthe
升级会员 