Icann Selects National Arbitration Forum To Resolve Cybersquatting Disputes - Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers - Industry Trend or Event

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, Dec 27, 1999

The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has selected the National Arbitration Forum as one of two organizations in the world to resolve cybersquatting disputes. In a typical cybersquatting case, one party registers the address of a well-known business in hopes of getting the business to purchase the address for a large sum of money. Currently, only The Forum and the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are empowered to hear and decide such cases.

"This selection literally brings the courthouse to your desktop," Forum Managing Director Edward Anderson says. "At a time when the Internet offers the greatest opportunities and the greatest business threats, all users can be assured of timely access to justice for their trademark infringement grievances."

ICANN (www.icann.org), a non-profit organization, oversees the assignment of Internet addresses. The organization was formed to take over responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions now performed under US government contract by IANA and other entities.

Under ICANN rules, cybersquatting cases -- where one party abuses another party's rights by holding a domain name that is confusingly similar to the other party's trademark or service mark -- will be resolved by a mandatory administrative hearing administered by the National Arbitration Forum or by WIPO.