Studying Net Name Disputes

The system set up to resolve disputes over Internet addresses such as kodaktheatre.com can be easily manipulated to favor trademark holders, according to a study released Monday.

University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist found that the domain-name dispute-resolution system set up by the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers allows those filing a complaint to select forums and formats that are more likely to award cases in their favor.

The dispute-resolution system arose as a way to address “cyber-squatting,” the process of buying a domain name with hopes of reselling it at a high price to a person or company who shares that name.

Since ICANN approved the system in late 1999, complainants have won 81% of the more than 3,000 cases filed. Recent victors include actor Kevin Spacey and Britain’s Fulham Football Club.

Complainants have a choice of four forums in which to challenge cyber-squatters, but nine out of 10 complainants chose the two forums that were most likely to award cases to those who filed them, the study found.