FICPI has been, and continues to be, heavily involved in respect of domain name and Internet related issues that are important for FICPI members and their trademark owner clients. In a comprehensive new FICPI paper, Petter Rindforth, FICPI's Special Reporter for Domain Names, reviews FICPI's efforts to support the initiatives of WIPO and ICANN on such things as the settlement of disputes over domain names, and their efforts towards an international treaty or co-operative arrangement for the purpose of standardizing rules concerning Internet access, Internet providers, and conditions for applications for domain names, and the provisions for enforcement of those rules.

FICPI has expressed its concerns that the needs of the Internet community must be considered as carefully as those of the legal and intellectual property community. FICPI's concerns are based on an apprehension that if the "rules" are skewed in favour of intellectual property owners, the Internet community will simply ignore or circumvent them.

FICPI has also argued that the availability of accurate identity and contact information for domain name holders is essential for effective intellectual property rights enforcement. The privacy concerns of individuals, often protected by regulatory or statutory schemes that vary among jurisdictions, must be balanced against the needs of IP owners to know the identities of those who may be infringing intellectual property rights.

For a complete copy of Petter's paper in Word format, please click here.

For a copy in pfd format, please click here.