Internet name system in growing danger
The internet's key site identity system is in mounting danger from new techniques that could cause havoc by turning it into a free-for-all market, the World Intellectual Property Organisation WIPO warned.The United Nations' agency said the latest...
The internet's key site identity system is in mounting danger from new techniques that could cause havoc by turning it into a free-for-all market, the World Intellectual Property Organisation WIPO warned.
The United Nations' agency said the latest trends in registering top-level domain names (TLDs) - like www.reuters.com - could undermine dispute procedures under which patent holders can pursue "cybersquatters".
"Domain names used to be primarily specific identifiers of businesses and other internet users, but many names nowadays are mere commodities for speculative gain," senior WIPO official Francis Gurry told a news conference.
Mr Gurry, who runs the agency's own site-name dispute system, said the growth of computer-driven practices, like automatic mass harvesting of expired TLDs and "domain-name tasting", risks turning the system "into a mostly speculative market". It could also leave trademark owners, even rich and powerful companies, facing virtually unmanageable challenges to their name patents, making it increasingly difficult for ordinary internet users to locate genuine sites.
In the early years of the internet, the main challenge to the TLD system - which includes the generic .com, .net and .int addresses as well as country codes like .fr (France) and .jp (Japan) - came mainly from individuals, so-called "cybersquatters".
These would register a site using a slight variation of the name of a well-known firm or celebrity with an already existing internet address in the usually well-founded hope of being able to sell it at a high price.
The United Nations' agency said the latest trends in registering top-level domain names (TLDs) - like www.reuters.com - could undermine dispute procedures under which patent holders can pursue "cybersquatters".
"Domain names used to be primarily specific identifiers of businesses and other internet users, but many names nowadays are mere commodities for speculative gain," senior WIPO official Francis Gurry told a news conference.
Mr Gurry, who runs the agency's own site-name dispute system, said the growth of computer-driven practices, like automatic mass harvesting of expired TLDs and "domain-name tasting", risks turning the system "into a mostly speculative market". It could also leave trademark owners, even rich and powerful companies, facing virtually unmanageable challenges to their name patents, making it increasingly difficult for ordinary internet users to locate genuine sites.
In the early years of the internet, the main challenge to the TLD system - which includes the generic .com, .net and .int addresses as well as country codes like .fr (France) and .jp (Japan) - came mainly from individuals, so-called "cybersquatters".
These would register a site using a slight variation of the name of a well-known firm or celebrity with an already existing internet address in the usually well-founded hope of being able to sell it at a high price.