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Domain naming needs better rules
(Yomiuri Shimbun, The (Tokyo) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 13--TOKYO--A recent court battle in which a company sued a rival firm for registering Internet domain names similar to the company's name highlights the need for clear rules in the use of domain names.
The plaintiff, a-kaiwa.net, which offers online services for finding English teachers, filed a lawsuit at the Yokohama District Court in August against its rival FindaNet, Ltd. over what it says is a violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law by registering four Internet domain names similar to a-kaiwa.net such as "a-kaiwa.com".
The ".com" or ".jp" in an Internet address is what is called a top-level domain and represents the country or type of organization the registered address belongs to. There are more than 260 top-level domains in the world. As long as the top-level domain name is different, it is possible to register similar domain names.
The Unfair Competition Prevention Law stipulates that "acquiring and using the same or similar domain for the purpose of damaging others or obtaining illegal profits is unfair competition."
According to the complaint, a-kaiwa.net's president purchased the www.a-kaiwa.net domain name in August 2000 and launched a Web site at that address.
However, in December 2002, FindaNet registered a-kaiwa.com, which was used to automatically redirect users to FindaNet's official Web site.
In July, the Yokohama District Court issued a provisional disposition order to prohibit FindaNet from using similar domain names, saying "The company took advantage of [the plaintiff's] ability to attract customers and it can be assumed that it had the purpose of gaining illegal benefit by doing so."
Domain names are allocated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), an international nonprofit organization. However, ICANN does not strictly check the purpose of Web sites.
"If the checks become stricter, it would take a lot of time to register domain names, hampering the speediness of the online world," said Shigeki Goto, professor at the Computer Science Department of Waseda University's School of Science and Engineering.
If similar domain names are used for illegal purposes, those who hold a domain name can ask the Japan Intellectual Property Arbitration Center, which is operated by Japan Federation of Bar Associations and the World Intellectual Property Organization of the United Nations, for a ruling.
However, a domain holder has to ask for a separate ruling for each similar domain name. These delays could help aid the spread of malicious intents.
The court is expected to present a compromise settlement plan in the lawsuit involving a-kaiwa.net and FindaNet late next month.
If the settlement states domain names with "a-kaiwa" can never be registered and used by a third party, a-kaiwa.net and FindaNet are likely to end the court battle.
The Internet has become an indispensable information tool. To prevent trouble similar to what has happened with a-kaiwa.net and the illegal use of domain names, we need to discuss setting rules concerning a domain name register and check system.
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