Most businesses will have some form of website presence. Indeed, domain names can be highly valuable and disputes can often arise over their use and ownership, for example:
- Cyber-squatting – where a party deliberately registers a domain name in the knowledge that another party needs or would like to have that domain name (and then seeks to sell the name to that party)
- Where a party uses a domain name which is identical or similar to another party’s registered trade mark
- Gripe sites – sites which use domain names to damage the reputation of a company
Our team advises on all aspects of domain names and has extensive experience of the Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy (the internationally-recognised system for settling domain name disputes), both through the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) and through Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Policy (which is compulsory for .co.uk domains). We have also brought UDRP complaints using local registry procedures in other EU jurisdictions.
