Get Ready to Register .eu Domains
By Jody Tsigarides
The impending introduction of the .eu domain suffix which will be applicable to all Member
States and thus accessible by all its occupants is likely to cause a huge intellectual property
scramble.
Get ready to register these domains - or risk losing them.
The aim of the new .eu suffix is to boost e-commerce within the single market and to challenge the dominance of the .com. The European Council has appointed 200 registrars to deal with the applications and to allocate the new domain names. The new suffix can be registered by any individual or organisation providing that they are established within the European Union.
There are strong fears that the introduction of this new domain suffix may lead to vast disputes and hold serious consequences for those businesses which either lose out to their rivals or have to undertake expensive litigation to acquire the transfer of the domain name from a ‘cyber-squatter’. Due to these concerns a ‘sunrise’ period will be enforced.
The sunrise period will last for four months and will grant companies which have registered National and European trade marks the exclusive right to obtain the domain name applicable to their registered mark.
The ‘sunrise period’ will begin on the 7th December 2005. Once this period has been active for two months the registration process will become accessible to those individuals and organisations which have other prior rights. Once the period has expired on the 7th April 2006, the restriction will be lifted and the domain name suffix will become available to the general public.
However, despite this pro-active effort to avoid the problems feared by so many, there are still some major concerns. These concerns are particularly important to law firms which are perhaps responsible for the intellectual property rights of a client.
Concerns with the process
The first concern is that trade mark registration is specific to a particular class, that is to say that should a mark be registered for example, in the class which relates to children’s toys, it is quite possible that the same mark may be owned by a separate unconnected company which produces fresh foods. This will be where the scramble begins, the two competing entities may both apply for the same domain and it will be assigned on a first come first served basis.The second problem is that the ‘sunrise period’ could be regarded as being very low-profile and thus many rights holders may not be aware of this grace period. This may cause an incident where individuals ‘grab’ the name and use it first, causing the original right holder to either lose it or undertake lengthy and costly legal proceedings in order to obtain it back.
It could be argued that it would be appropriate for law firms to contact their clients who have registered trade marks and inform them of the new opportunity, also stressing the importance of avoiding these problems by immediate registration when such is available. With regard to the interests of the law firm, whilst it could be argued that they are less likely to be a victim of either unawareness or cybersquatting, it would still be advisable to act quickly to prevent any dispute or indeed the eventual use of the firm’s well-respected name in bad faith.A further problem which is currently apparent and should form part of the immediate advice given to any client on a .eu domain registration is that of pre-registration. Perhaps provoked by the concerns resonating around the legal world, opportunistic registration companies are offering a reservation service which is essentially an agreement that the company will register the domain name as soon as registration is available. However, these companies are not official and cannot guarantee a successful registration. The European Commission is heavily warning against adopting such methods to register a domain and they advise anyone seeking a list of official registrars to visit EURid, at www.eurid.eu. EURid is the not-for-profit organisation, established in Belgium, selected by the European Commission, to operate the new domain.
As the ‘sunrise period’ draws closer, any company which owns a National or European trade mark needs to be taking action now and preparing themselves for the registration process. Perhaps law firms need to be advising those clients for which they act, on the issues surrounding a registration and indeed assisting in the preparation of the registration should the client so wish. The urgency to do so cannot be overstated. You must get there before everybody else does.
Jody Tsigarides works for Lawdit Solicitors, www.lawdit.co.uk
in Southampton. He has a Masters degree in Law (LLM) and is due to begin training as a Solicitor in September 2006.
Email jody.tsigarides@lawdit.co.uk.
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