International Journal of Law and Information Technology Advance Access published online on April 2, 2008
International Journal of Law and Information Technology, doi:10.1093/ijlit/ean005
Cybersquatting: Prevention better than cure?
* LLB LLM, PhD Candidate Swansea University. E-mail: m.m.moore{at}swansea.ac.uk Telephone: 07866092726. The author would like to thank Prof. Elizabeth MacDonald for kind and helpful comments
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Abstract |
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Since the early Commercialisation of the World Wide Web, cybersquatting as a phenomenon has been in existence and has been consistently rising; with recent 2006 figures showing a 25% increase up from the previous year.
This paper examines the various legal mechanisms that have been employed to deal with cybersquatting by examining firstly, the reaction of the Courts and secondly, the reaction of the registering authorities. Finally the paper looks at some of the more recent attempts to curb cybersquatting at the registration level by the employment of phased registration periods and additionally some radical solutions suggested in some circles will also be examined.
The paper concludes that while the reactive strategies developed by the Courts and the registering authorities are effective once cybersquatting is committed, the real solution must surely lie in preventative action at the registration stage if the battle to curb cybersquatting is finally to be won.