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Disputes Over The Practice of Cybersquatting Rose Sharply Last Year

Disputes over the practice of cybersquatting rose sharply last year.

There were 2,700 cases filed for arbitration with the United Nations agency charged with protecting inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and copyright.

The number of arbitration and mediation cases filed represented a 28 per cent increase over the previous year, according to a press release issued yesterday by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Cybersquatting general refers to the practice of registering, offering for sale or using a domain name with the aim of profiting from a trademark that belongs to someone else. It can also involve buying up domain names that use the names of existing businesses with the intention of selling the same names to those to those firms.

Parties filing cases with WIPO last year took advantage of user-friendly online facilities such as the paperless procedure initiated by the entity's Arbitration and Mediation Centre.

Source: United Nations