IP holders urged to enforce their domain name rights

Businesses should not hesitate to enforce their rights should another organisation infringe their trademarks through domain name cybersquatting, according to one solicitors firm.

Sintons said in a column for the Northern Echo that cases of cybersquatting are on the rise and noted that some perpetrators are using domain names containing other organisations' trademarks to host sites that copy the look and feel of websites belonging to the victim.

"It is important to make sure that, once you have identified and protected your IP, you enforce your rights," Sintons went on to urge.

Two recent reports from MarkMonitor and the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have identified global increases in cases of cybersquatting.

MarkMonitor said that instances of cybersquatting rose by 18 per cent globally in 2008, while the WIPO revealed that it saw a record 2,329 complaints filed under its Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy in the same year.

Written by Debra Hastings-Henry