Securing a Domain Name with Pre-Existing Trademark Rights

A domain name is an address for a website. Owners often choose domain names because of their ability to be remembered, marketed, or commercialized. However, sometimes a domain name is chosen for more illegitimate reasons, such as extracting a premium purchase price out of someone who wants the domain and may have some reasonable claim to it. For example, a business owner may be forced to pay a much higher price for a website domain name embodying the business name if someone is able to register the domain name before the business owner.  This can give rise to a domain name dispute.

There are several processes that can be used to wrest the domain name from the registrant. One of them is a UDRP proceeding. A UDRP proceeding is an arbitration initiated by a trademark owner to establish superior rights in a domain name and force a registrant to cancel or transfer the domain name.

All registrants, when they purchase a domain name, agree to follow UDRP rules and policies, and to be bound by decisions of an arbitration panel ruling on those rules and policies. Thus, when someone registers a domain name that may touch on a trademark, the trademark owner can institute a UDRP proceeding. A successful UDRP proceeding will show that the domain name is similar to the trademark, that the registrant has no legitimate rights in the domain name, and that the domain name was registered in bad faith. When successful, the registrant may be forced to transfer the domain name to the proper trademark owner.

A UDRP proceeding can be an inexpensive, quick, and very effective way to obtain a domain name from an illegitimate registrant, or even a cybersquatter. However, there are very strict technical rules for the manner in which a proceeding has to be prepared and filed, and, of course, the proceeding must be based on substantively strong grounds as well. You should contact a local, competent trademark attorney if considering pursuing a domain name held by someone.  Arizona attorney Tom Galvani offers domain name dispute services for both trademark owners and domain name registrants.