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Companies that transact business on the net have slowly woken up to the fact that it is a valuable part of their marketing strategy to have the same domain name as their company name or the name of one of their well-known products. When a company finds that the domain name related to their corporate identity or product trademark has already been taken it can do two things. It can either select a different name or fight a legal battle to retrieve the name from its current owners.

Domain name disputes occur mainly because of cybersquatting. Cybersquatters take advantage of the first come, first served process of domain name registration. This is how they come to own domain names related to famous trademarks or businesses with which they actually have no connection whatsoever. Since domain name registration is not very expensive, many cybersquatters buy multiple domain names and ’squat’ on them.

Cybersquatters then put up these domain names for auction or offer to sell them directly to the related company at astronomical prices. Sometimes, cybersquatters use the established reputation and goodwill of companies to make profits.

Courts are authorized to award ownership and control of domain names. The legal process, however, is tedious and time-consuming. This is why many parties avoid litigation and prefer turning to the domain name dispute policies of domain name registrars.

To resolve domain name disputes and discourage cybersquatting, ICANN adopted the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (URDP) in 1999. Under URDP, one can file a case with a resolution service provider specifying the disputed domain name, who currently holds the domain name, the registrar who registered the disputed domain name and the reason for the dispute. The dispute is resolved on the basis of whether the domain name is identical or very close to a trademark, whether the current owner has any rightful claim to the domain name, and whether the domain name was registered or used in bad faith in any way.

A domain resolution case is resolved under this procedure within two months. This is much faster than the normal legal process. Even the charges are much lower.

No money changes hands when cases are dealt with under URDP. Neither of the parties is required to be present in person. After the resolution of the dispute, the domain name is either cancelled, transferred or sustained.

Despite these dispute resolution policies being in place, the number of domain name disputes has increased dramatically. This is because there is no potentially problematic domain names are not researched at the time of filing for registration. The growing business value of domain names has only served as an encouragement to cybersquatters. This only results in a greater number of disputes than before and an increase in the registration of disputed domain names. Registrations have been made easier in order to boost business. It is also difficult to actually figure out who the rightful owner of a domain name is.