Introduction

'Cybersquatting' is the bad-faith registration of a domain name that contains another party's trademark. Under the Trademark Act, affected parties may file a civil proceeding against an unauthorised domain name. Where an unauthorised domain name is registered in a Taiwanese generic top-level domain (ie, with a '.tw' domain name) under a contract with the Taiwan Network Information Centre (TWNIC), the affected party may also be able to file a TWNIC Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (TWDRP) proceeding, which is equivalent to a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy proceeding.

The TWNIC has designated the Taipei Bar Association and the Science and Technology Law Institute at the Institute for Information Industry as the domain name dispute resolution service providers.

TWDRP proceedings

To file a TWDRP proceeding, a party must submit concrete evidence that:

  • the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark, symbol, personal name, business name or other emblem that it owns;
  • the registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in the domain name; and
  • the registrant has registered or used the domain name in bad faith.

Recent decision

Two registrants used WeWork Companies LLC's WEWORK trademarks to file and obtain the domain name registrations 'wework.com.tw' and 'wework.tw'. On 24 December 2020, following complaints filed by WeWork, the Taipei Bar Association decided against the registrants and ordered that the domain names be assigned to WeWork.

Comment

The TWDRP is an efficient tool for preventing trademark infringement and cybersquatting.