Domain Names at the Intersection of Free Speech and Trade-Mark Law on the Internet (Forum: Democracy & the Internet‪)‬

This article discusses the intersection of trade-mark law and the freedom of speech in the context of Internet domain names. A domain name is a more easily identifiable reference for a long numerical Internet Protocol address (which is used to identify a particular website). The relevance of a domain name in the context of free speech arises where someone chooses a domain name which comprises the trade-mark or trade name of another for a website which criticizes or otherwise comments on the owner of the trade-mark or trade name. The most frequently encountered examples of such activity are cybergriping, the identification of a website by the domain name of the type trademarksucks.com, and cybercriticizing, the identification of a website by the domain name trademarkvariation.com, where, in each case, the website operator has no permission to use the trade-mark or trade name and criticizes the trade-mark or trade name owner. A more recent development is the use of such a domain name to identify a blog site. The issue is whether one can adopt such a domain name for a website that criticizes the owner of the trade-mark or trade name without violating rights in the trade-mark or trade name comprised within the domain name. The article considers decisions of United States courts as well as those in Canada. The article also considers relevant decisions under the World Intellectual Property Organization's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the approach likely to be adopted under the Canadian Internet Registration Authority's CIRA Dispute Resolution Policy (CDRP) for .ca domain names. (1)