ICANN Can Help - Sometimes

Two years ago, the legal rubric governing domain names and trademark law changed with the invocation of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. Since then, decisions by ICANN-approved arbitration panels and courts interpreting the ACPA have outlined the contours of these mechanisms governing domain name disagreements between trademark-holders and owners of domain names.

An analysis of case decisions finds that trademark-holders are not always winning as easily as perhaps many anticipated in the late 1990s when these mechanisms were being debated. Organizations comprising large trademark-holders lobbied for passage of the ACPA and exerted political pressure on the shaping of policies that resulted in the current ICANN procedures, yet it appears that only the strong and famous trademarks are actually benefiting from these policies. But in some cases, the domain-holder has held onto a domain name or escaped the clutches of ACPA liability.