WIPO Internet Domain Name Process

WIPO RFC-3

Interim Report
of the
WIPO Internet Domain Name Process

December 23, 1998

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has convened an international process to develop recommendations on certain intellectual property issues associated with Internet domain names, including dispute resolution. During this Process WIPO seeks to solicit participation from the widest international range of interested parties. The recommendations resulting from the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process will be provided to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the new organization that has been formed to manage and coordinate the Internet domain name system, and will be reported to WIPOs member States.

The WIPO Internet Domain Name Process comprises three stages. During the first stage, WIPO issued a Request for Comments (WIPO RFC-1) on July 8, 1998, with a view to obtaining consensus on the issues to be addressed in the Process, the procedures to be used and the timetable in which the Process would take place. The second stage consisted of issuing, on September 16, 1998, a second Request for Comments (WIPO RFC-2) seeking comments on the substance of the issues defined after consideration of the comments received on WIPO RFC-1.

The third stage of the Process consists of the publication of an Interim Report containing draft recommendations, and subjecting that report to comments in response to this third Request for Comments (WIPO RFC-3). The Interim Report has been drafted with the assistance of the Panel of Experts constituted for this Process and on the basis of the comments received and the consultations held during the second stage. The full text of the Interim Report is available below.

All interested parties are invited to submit comments on the Interim Report and the draft recommendations contained therein. The comments received will be taken into account by WIPO in the formulation of recommendations in its Final Report, which is to be published on April 30, 1999. Comments can be submitted by the following means:

a) Through the Submit Comment form that is available under the RFCs & Comments section of the Web Site. We recommend choosing this method for the submission of comments.

b) By electronic mail

c) By regular mail to the following address: WIPO Internet Domain Name Process, World Intellectual Property Organization, 34 chemin des Colombettes, P.O. Box 18, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland.

All comments must be received by March 19, 1999.

Browse Comments

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
	Paragraph Numbers
1. The Internet, Domain Names and the WIPO Process	1 to 36
The Internet The Domain Name System The Transmutation of Domain Names Intellectual Property The Process for the Re-organization of the Management of the Domain Name System The Interface Between the Domain Name System and Intellectual Property: The WIPO Process The Mechanics of the WIPO Process Guiding Principles in the Formulation of Recommendations in the WIPO Process	1 to 3 4 to 9 10 11 to 13 14 to 19 20 to 23 24 to 29 30 to 36
2. Avoiding Disjunction Between Cyberspace and the Rest of the World: Practices Designed to Minimize Conflicts Arising out of Domain Name Registrations	37 to 106
Best Practices for Registration Authorities The Availability of Information Relating to Contact Details Dealing with False or Inadequate Information The Problem of Uniqueness: Technical Measures for Co-existence of Similar Names	44 to 78 79 to 89 90 to 101 102 to 106
3. Resolving Conflicts in a Multijurisdictional World with a Global Medium: Uniform Dispute-Resolution Procedures	107 to 201
Court Litigation Guiding Principles for the Design of an Alternative Dispute-Resolution (ADR) Policy The Role of Mediation The Role of Arbitration A Recommended Administrative Dispute-Resolution Procedure	113 to 119 120 to 123 124 to 128 129 to 138 139 to 201
4. The Problem of Notoriety: Famous and Well-Known Marks	202 to 245
International Protection of Famous and Well-Known Marks The Implementation of Protection for Famous Well-known Marks in Cyberspace Mechanism for Exclusion of Famous and Well-known Marks in Open TLDS Evidentiary Presumption Resulting from and Exclusion Recognition of Abusive Registration of a Domain Name as a Ground of Cancellation or Transfer	205 to 209 210 to 215 216 to 235 236 to 238 239 to 245
5. New Generic Top-Level Domains: Some Considerations from the Perspective of Intellectual Property	246 to 290
The Diversity of Views and the Diversity of Perspectives Illustrations of Problems Encountered by Holders of Intellectual Property Rights in Existing gTLDs Provisional Conclusions, Suggestions and Reflections	249 to 253 254 to 272 273 to 290

* * * * * * *

Annexes
I.	Panel of Experts Appointed by WIPO
II.	List of Governments, Organizations and Persons Submitting Formal Comments
III.	Statistical Information Concerning Participation in the WIPO Process
IV.	List of States Party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
V.	List of States Party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Bound by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement)