Who Took Our Company Domain? Use the 'Dispute Resolution System' Instead of Civil Litigation...

"Simple and Affordable, Yet Companies Are Unaware"
Mainly Conducted Through Written Submissions, Concluded Within 2 to 3 Months

Do You Know About the 'Domain Name Dispute Resolution System'?

A domain name is a unique string that serves as a website address on the internet. Incidents of unauthorized domain name squatting have been occurring steadily.

Photo to aid understanding of the above article. Pixabay

There is no need to immediately resort to litigation when a dispute arises. By using the domain name dispute resolution system operated by the Asia Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center (ADNDRC), a relatively simple and swift resolution is possible.

The domain name dispute resolution system is a procedure designed to quickly and efficiently resolve cases where a third party has registered a domain name similar to a trademark owned by a company or individual without authorization. Civil lawsuits are complicated, time-consuming, and costly. Domain name dispute resolution is mainly conducted through written submissions. After each party exchanges claims and responses once, an independent panelist makes a decision within an average of 2 to 3 months.

The difference from arbitration is also clear. In arbitration, the parties directly select the procedure and arbitrators, but in domain name dispute resolution, a panelist appointed according to a pre-established procedure judges whether to transfer or cancel the domain based on the application and response. It is simpler than litigation or arbitration and the results are substantive.

ADNDRC is an organization accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). It has offices in four Asian countries: Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. The Seoul office serves as a gateway to improve accessibility for Korean companies.

Disputes related to country code domain names such as '.kr' are handled by the Internet Dispute Resolution Committee (IDRC). Compared to other remedies, the application process is simple and the costs are relatively low. When trademark owners apply, the success rate exceeds 80%, demonstrating high effectiveness.

Disputes related to global domain names such as '.com' are handled by overseas dispute resolution organizations. Most procedures are conducted in English and judged by foreign experts. According to the 2024 statistics released by IDRC, out of 43 domestic domain name dispute resolution applications, 17 were overseas cases. The rest were mostly disputes related to country code domain names such as '.kr'.

From the perspective of Korean companies, taking cases overseas involves language and cultural barriers. The recent appointment of patent attorneys Chang-Hoon Lee, Young-Joo Song, and Ji-Woo Jung as new ADNDRC panelists is good news. This can reduce potential disadvantages Korean companies might face.

Experts view securing domain names as a core brand protection strategy. They advise proactively securing key domain names simultaneously with trademark registration and actively using the dispute resolution system to minimize damage when unauthorized squatting occurs.

The government also supports responses to domain name disputes. The Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency under the Korean Intellectual Property Office signed a business agreement in November 2024 to support small and medium-sized export companies. When these companies’ domain names are squatted overseas without authorization and certain conditions are met, the government supports part of the attorney fees and procedural execution. Patent attorney Chang-Hoon Lee said, "Although the support budget and number of applications are increasing every year, many companies still do not know about this system itself." He added, "Recently, competition has increased slightly, so urgent or large-scale damage cases are prioritized for support." Patent attorney Young-Joo Song also said, "The procedure is simple and costs are low, but many companies do not utilize the system because they are unaware of it."

Lee Jin-young, Legal Newspaper Reporter

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.