In the context of the recent ICANN Public Comment proceeding on the UDRP, oriGIn and some of its members submitted comments.
The main message transmitted to the ICANN is that UDRP is unfair as a curative mechanism to the extent that to activate its procedure, a party can rely exclusively on trademarks. The rights and interests of holders of another relevant category of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) which can be abused in the domain name environment – GIs – are ignored by the UDRP. Several right holders rely exclusively on GIs (in other words, on geographical names protected under independent systems). Those rights and interests are excluded altogether from the UDRP. Some right holders, on top of GIs, for practical reasons rely on trademarks as well. For those rights and interests, the UDRP procedure has not always proved to be effective. Often in the case law, while protected via a trademark, for such geographical names there are additional burdens which makes it impossible to prove the exploitation of their reputation.
The oriGIn submission can be viewed here.
For more information on oriGIn activities on GIs in the Internet Domain Names Environment and relevant case law, please check the dedicated page of our website.
