Volume 04 Issue 02-2024
73
International Journal Of Law And Criminology
(ISSN
–
2771-2214)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
02
P
AGES
:
73-77
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
584
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
ABSTRACT
In the article, the author studies the similarities and differences between domain names and individualization means,
as well as the growing number of problems between domain names and individualization means due to the
globalization of the Internet and the proliferation of e-commerce. The commercial significance of domain names is
directly reflected in the disputable situations. The article also lists the objects of intellectual property that are not
registered as domain names under the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan and not prohibition of the registration
of domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark is brought up as a matter of
discussion.
KEYWORDS
Individualization means, domain name, company name, trademark or service mark, infringement.
INTRODUCTION
With the globalization and commercialization of the
Internet, domain names have taken on new
importance as business identifiers, no longer just as a
means of identifying the location of specific
computers. They are finding their place in the "real
space" by taking over commercials, billboards,
magazine ads and even the side windows of buses. As
such, they are now fighting back with individualization
means such as trademarks that exist in the "real
space".
In the age of new information technologies, companies
widely use the Internet to strengthen their position in
the global market and create a business image. Domain
name registration has become one of the necessary
steps in an ever-changing information-driven society.
Having said that, it can be said that there is a need for
a deep analysis of the importance of the domain name
Research Article
ANALYSIS OF PROBLEMATIC ISSUES BETWEEN DOMAIN NAMES AND
OTHER MEANS OF INDIVIDUALIZATION
Submission Date:
February 13, 2024,
Accepted Date:
February 18, 2024,
Published Date:
February 23, 2024
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/ijlc/Volume04Issue02-13
Almosova Shahnoza
Lecturer At The
Department Of “International Law And Human Rights”, Tashkent State University Of Law
,
Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ijlc
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 04 Issue 02-2024
74
International Journal Of Law And Criminology
(ISSN
–
2771-2214)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
02
P
AGES
:
73-77
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
584
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
in modern trade and electronic commerce, its specific
function, the terms and limits of protection of domain
names established by law.
The definitions of a domain name are not very different
from each other. In general, the Domain Name System
(DNS), an important component of the internet
infrastructure is a translation system that converts an
Internet host name, that is, a domain name, into a
unique string of numbers that make up an Internet
Protocol (IP) address for each specific domain name.
Like a phone number, an IP address requires
connecting and coordinating signals on the Internet. A
simple but sophisticated DNS system handles up to 20
billion address translation or "search" queries per day.
According to the definition of domain names given by
the World Intellectual Property Organization, domain
name is a combination of letters or numbers, an
address that can be typed into a browser to go to a
desired site, and are human-friendly forms of Internet
addresses that are usually used to find web pages. In
other words, domain name is necessary to specify a
string of numbers that contain an IP address that is
difficult to remember. For example, the domain
"iprhelpdesk.eu" serves to host the web page of the
Help Desk of the European Intellectual Property
Organization
http://www.iprhelpdesk.eu.
Besides
specifying the IP address, domain name is used to
identify company names or trademarks on the
Internet. It is this aspect that also causes problems
with the use of domain names and company names or
trademarks and service marks.
Although domain name is considered as an intangible
asset like other forms of intellectual property, one of
the sharp differences between them is that domain
name is created under a commercial contract rather
than being registered with an office responsible for
protecting intellectual property. The right to use a
domain name arises from the contractual relations
among the domain user, the registrar (or domain name
"seller") and the top-level domain registry (database
manager
–
a non-profit organization entrusted with
the security, stability and interoperability of the
Domain Name System (DNS)
–
(ICANN) Internet-
corporation). Thus, a domain name is more like to
obtain a telephone number for a cell phone operator
rather obtain legal protection for an intellectual
property object. Although there are a number of
complex agreements governing the registration and
use of domain names, in practice, the act of registering
a domain name is simple
–
much simpler than other
forms of intellectual property. A domain user or
"registrant" does not need to go through years of
background checks or provide "proof of use" to obtain
a domain name. Payment of the registration fee and
agreement to comply with the terms of use of the
registrant are only required. The relative ease and
speed of obtaining a domain name means that many
domain names are purchased at a low price, which
immediately becomes valuable to the registrant.
Domain name registration is done on the basis of filing
date priority, as in the case of individualization means
or patent rights, which means that a domain name that
has not been registered by another person can be
purchased by anyone who requests to have it
registered in their name. Unlike them, domain names
do not have the principle of territoriality, but they are
considered unique names that serve for identification
in the world information network. A trademark or
service mark, if it has not received protection on the
basis of international agreements at the international
level, will receive legal protection in the territory of
another country or, if it is intended to designate goods
or services of another class, it will receive legal
protection in the territory of the same country. This
differs from domain names that are owned by only one
registrar worldwide.
Volume 04 Issue 02-2024
75
International Journal Of Law And Criminology
(ISSN
–
2771-2214)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
02
P
AGES
:
73-77
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
584
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
In addition to these differences, domain names are
retained indefinitely (for uncertain period) upon
payment of an annual registration fee to the registrar.
The protection of intellectual property objects is valid
for a certain period, for example, inventions protected
by patents are legally protected only for twenty years
(with a few exceptions), after which the invention is
considered public domain. Copyright protection lasts
for fifty years before an object becomes public domain.
Trademarks may not expire, but under the laws of
many countries, a trademark or service mark can be
cancelled early if it is not used for a certain period.
Domains are held in perpetuity as long as the terms of
the registration are not violated and payment is made,
making the program a direct service to a valuable
commercial asset.
Despite these notable differences, there are actually
more similarities than differences between forms of
intellectual property and domain names.
Firstly, trademarks, copyright objects, patents and
domain names give the owner who registered them
the right to use, dispose and protect this asset from
infringement. As commercial success is achieved, the
value of these assets also increases.
Secondly, each of them is in commodity nature,
meaning that each of them can be bought, sold, or
licensed, which increases their value because they
create a market for buyers and sellers who benefit
from the transfer of each asset.
As the Internet becomes an increasingly important tool
for the development of any business, the number of
potential threats to right holders of means of
individualization has increased. Imagine that you are
buying a product under a certain brand name, for
example, confectionery under the name "Candy gold"
in a supermarket or grocery store, but you are not
satisfied with the manufacturer or other information
on the product packaging. You will search for detailed
information on the Internet, and your intuition will,
first of all, prompt you to auto-type a site with the same
domain name as the product name, or to go to a site
with the same name that appeared in the trademark
search on Google (in our case, candygold.uz/com )
It's no secret that guessing domain names is common
for many Internet users. In the article "Trademark
Infringement in Domain Names: Perspectives on IR
Country Code Domain Names", co-authored by
Fakhroddun and Muhammad Bager Agmashhadi and
Hoda Korjazi, the authors claim that consumers are
highly dependent on brand names in the purchasing
process, and when using a trademark associated with
another brand as a domain name, there is very high
probability of being deceived, at least being misled.
Because of this, predictable domain names have
become valuable corporate assets through the means
of individualization. The same situation is observed
with the names of organizations of state importance.
Their website domain names are usually derived from
the organization's national language or abbreviations
in other languages. But the most interesting part of the
matter is that there are cases where the domain name
containing the company name or trademark or service
mark belongs to another domain name administrator
–
a person who has nothing to do with this
personalization tool.
Conversely, not all domain name administrators are in
a rush to register their web page names as trademarks
or service marks. According to statistics, only 1 percent
of website owners register their domain names as
trademarks. Such a low level of security of the sites
leads to many violations, in particular, the illegal use of
them with a slight change of domain names.
Volume 04 Issue 02-2024
76
International Journal Of Law And Criminology
(ISSN
–
2771-2214)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
02
P
AGES
:
73-77
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
584
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
Many of the cases studied in the world experience
reveal that individuals and companies that have
developed their trademark and patent portfolios, but
do not invest in domain name portfolios, take
additional risks by misjudging the importance of
domain names or do not capitalize on the value of their
portfolios. After all, a domain name is the foundation
of a company's online presence, and having multiple
domain names is important for driving user traffic,
increasing search engine visibility, and protecting a
valuable brand.
J. Thomas McCarthy, a professor at the University of
San Francisco School of Law, said that as more
companies seek to place information and products on
the Internet, conflicts over Internet domain names are
becoming more and more. These conflicts prove the
need for developing new procedures and legal rules
that are consistent with the law and actions taken by
the Internet community.
Here are two main forms of trademark infringement
on the Internet associated with domain names:
• the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to
a registered trademark or service mark.
• the domain name is the same or confusingly similar
to the name of the registered company name.
According to Clause 75, Part 2 of the decree of the
State Committee for Communication, Informatization
and Telecommunication Technologies of the Republic
of Uzbekistan dated December 30, 2014 "On
Amendments and Additions to the Regulation on the
Procedure for Registration and Use of Domain Names
in the UZ Domain" [8] registering domain names which
is already registered in the name of another person in
the Republic of Uzbekistan or an application for
registration has been submitted, as well as protected
even without registration in accordance with the
international agreements of the Republic of
Uzbekistan or having a much earlier priority, domain
names that are the name of the place of origin of
goods, company names (as a non-protected part
registration of a domain name that is confusingly
identical or closely similar to (except as otherwise
provided) is prohibited. It follows that domain names
that are identical or closely similar to company names
to the degree of confusion will not be registered.
However, the matter of domain names that are
identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or
service mark remains open. Violation of trademark or
service mark owners' rights on the Internet takes two
main forms:
1. Domain names that are confusingly similar to the
name of a trademark or service mark of third parties,
products and services advertised on the sites,
misleading the buyer about the original product or
service (where the owner of the site aims to engage in
online sales or advertising of counterfeit products);
2. Registration of domain names by third parties that
are exactly the same as the name of a trademark or
service mark, in other words - cybersquatting, that is,
obtaining a profit or other type of advantage in
violation of the rights of a third party.
E-commerce, e-news, e-advertising, e-gaming and e-
things are all essential to managing a company’s
Internet presence in this age, and a domain name
portfolio needs to be the strongest intellectual
property asset to promote and support a business and
protect its online identity.
REFERENCES
1.
Pope, Michael Brian; Warkentin, Merrill; Mutchler,
Leigh A.; and Luo, Xin (Robert) (2012) “The Domain
Name System
—Past, Present, and Future,”
Volume 04 Issue 02-2024
77
International Journal Of Law And Criminology
(ISSN
–
2771-2214)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
02
P
AGES
:
73-77
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
584
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
Communications
of
the
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for
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