On July 31, the Quality Brands Protection Committee of the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC) Internet Committee (IC) held the 2nd IC Hotline, which focused on IP protection of domain names. The hotline was hosted by IC Vice Chair Qu Xiaodong. Lawyer Eric Su shared his professional views on comprehensive domain name protection strategy and cases, and nearly 100 representatives from 67 member companies attended the event.
Eric Su explained the attributes and classification of domain name, legal protection of domain name (the rule of infringement judgment), domain name monitoring and dispute resolution. The attributes of domain names included exclusivity, temporality and regionality. Based on the arbitration rules and cases of the domain names, one necessary condition for determining infringement was that the holder did not enjoy the legitimate rights and interests of the domain name, which was also more subjective to judge whether it was a malicious act. In terms of domain name monitoring, brand owners could monitor domain names through third-party monitoring, domain name registrant monitoring and manual retrieval. In the aspect of domain name right protection, Eric Su introduced in detail five approaches, including negotiation, complaint and report, legal letter, domain name arbitration and litigation as well as case study. In addition, Eric Su discussed the strategy of domain name protection from six aspects: rights basis, domain name registration, timely monitoring, malicious evidence, ways of safeguarding rights and public opinion. He said that in domain name infringement cases, it was difficult to detect and identify the infringer if informing the police. However, it would play a postitive role in public relations in late stage. The same was true for the early notarization.