Trade marks play an essential role in domain names, and the owners of
trade mark rights have been the main promoters of the regulatory
process of domain names.
Likewise, in many situations, the domain name plays a role which is
analogous to that of the trade name since, due to its penetration in the
market, a company's website can become an online or virtual branch of
it.
Since it is extremely important for companies to register as domain
names their own trade names or the trade marks they market (so that
internet users find it easy to locate and have access to such a
website), those trade mark owners have been the main victims of the
cybersquatting phenomenon – the intentional registration of a domain
name including a third party's trade name or trade mark in order to
block its use on the internet or to force that third party to pay to
acquire it.
A person damaged by the use of his trade mark against his will on the
internet, whether it is a case of absolute identity or similarity that
causes likelihood of confusion, has a series of legal resources to
enforce his rights.
The damaged party can resort, for example, to legal actions framed
within the laws against unfair competition. These legal actions could
also be grounded in Section 16 of the GATT/TRIPs, on Section 6 bis of
the Paris Convention (in the case of well-known marks) and Argentine
Trademark Law.
An analysis of Argentine judgments related to an unauthorised third
party registering a domain name that is identical or similar to a
registered mark shows that judgments have generally given priority to
the registered trade mark and have ordered the suspension, cancellation
or transfer of the domain name in favour of the trade mark owner.
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| Daniel R Zuccherino |
Obligado & Cia
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admin@obligado.com.ar
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