Information Technology
Trademarks and International Domain Names
In the past, the lettering in domain names was limited to alphanumeric characters (that is, English-based ASCII characters). This created an access barrier to internet users who only understood Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, or other alphabets which could not be incorporated into domain names. For example, Pepsi had to rely on www.pepsi.co.jp for their Japanese website and did not have an option to use Japanese characters. International Domain Names (IDNs) seek to resolve this problem. The goal is to further internationalize the web and increase both accessibility and efficiency. The first step to introduce IDNs occurred several years ago. International characters can currently be used between the “www” and the “dot”. The next step is to complete the process by translating the “.com”, “.org”, etc. into native languages.
The full introduction of IDNs raises a number of serious legal issues for those who currently hold domain name trademarks to protect their branding. Under the typical system, registrants can purchase domain names on a first come, first serve basis. This allows cybersquatters to hold valuable domain names for ransom. Some pre-registration procedures for IDNs could solve this problem, but inevitably many small to mid range companies will be unable to keep up with the squatters as well as finance the substantial costs to register a domain name in multiple languages.
Currently there is not an effective international regulatory body governing the internet. Organizations do exist to impose standards, however, they lack the power to enforce their standards. Backwards compatibility is one alternative to enforce standards, but this remedies mostly technical issues (requiring a certain standard for a webpage to work server-side).
So what will happen when another version of CocaCola.com using, for example, Greek letters before and after the “dot” can be registered? Trademark law generally protects companies on a national level, but international protection is a different story. Principally, most developing countries lack the standards found in their industrialized counterparts. Furthermore, if a dispute does arise, resolution can be difficult. Only a handful of the 240 countries that use the internet have adopted the Uniform Domain Dispute Resolution Policy which standardizes dispute resolutions.
ICAAN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is currently rolling out test sites via Wiki to identify and solve technical issues with IDNs after the “dot”. If you are interested in ICAAN’s progress, visit them here. Once the technical issues are resolved, expect a more detailed look at an implementation method that will aim to protect branding and other identifiers.
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3 comments for “Trademarks and International Domain Names”
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You write as if IDNs are something new. While internationalizing to the right of the dot certainly is, international characters to the left of the dot, such as IDN.com, IDN.net, IDN.org, etc have been available for many years already. Many websites in non-English speaking countries are already using IDN domains for their businesses.
> This allows cybersquatters to
> hold valuable domain names for
> ransom.
Just to be clear - they’re only cybersquatters if they’re holding trademarked terms. For valuable generic IDNs, everyone has as much right to register them as do the wealthy corporations that try to reverse hijack them in overreaching UDRP actions.
Jeff is right. There is currently a capability to translate foreign characters into roman characters before the DOT. The next major step is to allow the translation after the DOT. But still, much progress is needed for IDNs to truly become widely used - ie many email programs cannot support IDNs. Trademark issues will only be compounded when lettering is changed after the DOT.
For more information on this article, listen to NPR story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15276503