What’s in a domain?

By Rodney Hylton-Potts. Intellectual property specialist lawyer.
I have recently set up my own online shop and paid a substantial amount for a domain name. As my website gained more hits I noticed that another ecommerce company had bought some very similar domain names. Is this ecommerce company infringing my intellectual property rights?

If the ecommerce company trades via the domain names it may infringe unregistered rights in the name you use for your domain, or (if you have one) a registered trade mark covering that name.
Even if it is not trading via the domain names, you can bring a complaint – for top-level domains such as .com, .biz, .org under the dispute resolution policy established by Icann, the body that oversees internet domain names, and Nominet, which administers the UK internet. Although complaints procedures vary, essentially, if you show you have rights to a name the same as, or similar to, the domain names registered by the ecommerce company (most easily done by having a registered trade mark), and that the ecommerce company’s registration of the names is abusive, the complaint should result in the domain names being transferred to you (or suspended or cancelled).
The ecommerce company may, however, show that it had a legitimate reason for registering the domain name(s) and their registration was not designed to take unfair advantage of your rights. And generally if a domain name is put to commercial use, the registrant cannot remain anonymous – or that too can be the subject of a complaint.
Usually expert legal advice is worth it.