WIPO Internet Domain Name Process

Report: Toronto regional consultation

The first meeting of the second series of regional consultations in the framework of the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process was held in Toronto on January 19,1999. The consultation was organized with the support of the Canadian Association of Internet Service Provides and the Canadia Patent and Trademark Institute, and was hosted by the University of Toronto.

The meeting was attended on behalf of WIPO by Christopher Gibson, Head of the Electronic Commerce Section, Office of Legal and Organization Affairs. The panel of experts was represented by Professor Michael Froomkin (University of Miami School of Law), Donald Heath (President, Internet Society), Mark Partridge (Member, Board of Directors, American Intellectual Property Association) and Phil Sbarbaro (Chief Litigation Counsel, Network Solutions, Inc.).

Opening remarks were presented by Dean Ron Daniels, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto and Ms. Michelle d’Auray, Executive Director, Task Force on Electronic Commerce, Industry Canada.

The presentations and open discussions covered the four main topics to be addressed by the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process:

• Best practices designed to minimize conflicts arising out of domain name registrations
• The need for uniform dispute resolution procedures
• Protection for famous and well-known marks
• The impact of adding new top-level domains on intellectual property

Issues that attracted particular attention were the availability of contact details and developing best practices which would maintain low entry barriers for domain name registrants; the scope of the claims that should be submitted to the administrative dispute resolution system and the mandatory nature of that system; the desirability of the exclusion mechanism for famous and well-known marks; defining carefully the concept of cybersquatting; and the desirability of distinguishing between commercial and non-commercial domains.

The table below lists those who participated in the consultation. A transcript and recording was made of the proceedings and these are available on this website under the section Consultations.

A recording was made of the proceedings. The transcript will shortly be made available to the public on the WIPO web site, at http://wipo2.wipo.int, under the section "Consultations."

Speakers