Cybersquatting back under local spotlight - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Cybersquatting back under local spotlight

By Vivienne Fisher, ZDNet Australia
March 15, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Cybersquatting-back-under-local-spotlight/0,139023166,120264061,00.htm

Protecting brands from cybersquatting is back on the agenda, with a Federal Government working party looking at its impact on trade mark enforcement in Australia.

Domain names will be among the areas under discussion by the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP).

Owen Malone, chairman of the ACIP, said it planned to carry out public debate into the issue over the next couple of months, and would make a final report to government following this. An issues paper has been released by the ACIP for discussion.

-The government is concerned to see how well the trademark system works in Australia," Malone said.

Malone said that, in particular, the ACIP would be addressing the issues facing smaller businesses.

-Essentially trade marks give very powerful legal protection for brands and there are perception that the rights of brand owners are being undermined by the registration of certain domain names," Malone said.

According to Malone, companies are now spending a lot of time and effort trying to control their brands from cybersquatting. -[There's] obviously concern it leads to dilution of trade mark rights and brand equity."

Malone said that the problem of cybersquatting was improving because of greater regulation. However, he added that there were the continuing issues of public confusion, dispute resolution processes, and also different systems in different countries.