Domain Names And Trademark Conflicts And Their Solution

This article focuses on one of the hottest issues during the process of thecommercialization of the Internet, i.e. the conflict between domain names andtrademarks. Firstly, this article starts from the domain name itself, including thenature, structure, agency and principles of registration, etc. Secondly, it analyzes thereasons and forms of the conflict between domain names and trademarks. Thirdly, itincludes resolutions nationally and abroad solutions both judicial and non-judicial. Atlast, it proposes some suggestions to the legislation of our country in this field.In the writer's opinion, the reasons of the conflict between domain names andtrademarks comprise of the process of commercialization itself, the respectivecharacters of domain names and trademarks, the respective registration andadministration policies, etc. and the conflict can be resolved both judicially andnon-judicially. Present cases mostly represent the infringement of domain names ontrademarks. The emphasis of most countries is accordingly on protection of the rightsand interests of the trademark holder. In developing the resolutions to these cases inthe courts of our country, the largest obstacle is the missing of legislation. In earlytimes, courts applied laws quite differently. Nowadays, practically, there is consensus,based on the judicial explanations from the Supreme Court. However, China is not acommon law country, we need some kind of legislation. Moreover, it is not the rightsof the trademark holder that needs to be protected, the lawful interests of the domainname holder needs also to be protected, so as to promote the development of theinternet economy. Thus, the legal nature and the legal position need to be defined. Thedefinition of the legal nature of domain names needs to be considered in two aspects,for which it is, and which it should be. At present, there is not a country that hasincluded the domain names in the intellectual property, alternatively, interests andrights related to domain names can be considered as civil rights and interests. But inconsideration of future protection of domain names, it is suggested that domain namesshould be included in the category of intellectual property.