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Cybersquatting cases in RP rising

DAVID DIZON, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/11/2008 9:09 PM

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The rise in Internet usage in the Philippines has also led to a growth in cybersquatting cases or the unauthorized registration and use of a domain name of a popular brand or trademark belonging to someone else.

Emil Avanceña, sales and marketing director of DotPh, said the rising number of local domain name speculators or domainers is leading to more cybersquatting cases in the country. DotPH is the official domain registry of the Philippines, which sells the .ph country code domain.

"Some people will buy trademarks while others will buy a generic domain and develop it. We are seeing more of that. Because of the growth of Internet usage, more people are realizing that there’s a lot of value to advertising on the Internet. There’s more opportunity to make money or generate revenue from the Internet. The pie is getting bigger so each segment of the pie is getting bigger," Avanceña told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

Avanceña did not say how many cybersquatting cases involving .ph domains have been filed before third party arbiters but said that cybersquatting is "a normal offshoot of the rise in local Internet usage." He said there are more than 100,000 active .ph domain names as of this year.

He also said domain name speculators are not necessarily cybersquatters, especially if they do not infringe on the names of famous personalities or brands. One reason for buying a good domain name is the addition of Web ads that could earn a profit for the site owner.

In a presentation before the Search Engine Marketing Conference 2008 in Makati City, Avanceña revealed that the Web site www.airphilippines.ph is not owned by the local airline company but was registered by a private individual.

He said one portion of the site features a text ad that leads to the actual Air Philippines Web site www.airphils.com. As a result, he said the actual owner of the brand Air Philippines was in effect paying for text ads on a Web site that should be theirs.

The unofficial site also features links to related searches to other airline websites such as www.klm.com, the official Web site of Royal Dutch Airlines.


Rights to a trademark

Avanceña said that as a registry, DotPH does not know or verify if the person who registers the domain names is the actual owner of the trademark. This presents a problem for people such as Sen. Loren Legarda who recently discovered that someone had registered the domain name www.lorenlegarda.com and was planning to sell it for 18,000 Euros.

"As a registry, we are not in a position to say who has the rights to a domain name. We don’t ask if you are Loren Legarda or if you represent Loren Legarda. This is the way it is with majority of domain registries whether it’s a .com or .net or a country code domain. Anyone can register any domain," he said.

Avanceña said cybersquatting shows the need for greater protection of brand names of companies, products and famous personalities. He said that even before Yahoo! Philippines launched its own site, the Internet firm bought at least 250 .ph domain names that included permutations of the Yahoo! brand to ensure that they were protected.

In the lorenlegarda.com case, Avanceña said the senator could make an offer to the site owner and hopefully settle on a price. This, of course, is exactly what the domain owner wants, which is the reason why he registered the domain name in the first place.

During this process, Avanceña said the registry is not involved since it will be a private transaction between two private entities.

On the other hand, the claimant can also go to a third party arbiter and state their reasons why they should get ownership of the site. Avanceña said all major domain registries, including the country code domain registries have a dispute resolution policy.

Claimants can file a case before accredited dispute resolution providers such as the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Hong Kong Dispute Resolution Center and explain why the domain name belongs to them. The arbiter then reviews the merits of the case, decides which contending party will get ownership of the site and the registry enforces the decision.

"Every time you sign up for a .ph domain, one of the things you sign in the agreement is that you agree to be bound by any decision of the accredited arbitration bodies. In the case of lorenlegarda.com, the senator can go for arbitration with one of the accredited arbitration bodies. It’s basically making a case for ownership of the site and the other party will be given an opportunity to respond," he said.

He adds that a claimant can spend up to $500 to $700 just to lay claim to one domain name. "If it’s more than one, the amount is obviously higher, but it’s still cheaper than buying the site for $40,000," he said.  

Avanceña concedes that protecting an important brand name online can be costly. He adds, however, that there are benefits to those who have ownership of the right domain name including Web advertising and a steady stream of traffic.

He said buying a .ph domain name is important for companies reaching out to a local market. For example, Google already displays country-specific searches that display pages from the Philippines. To do this, Google’s algorithm checks the IP address of the searcher, the geographical IP of the server where the Web site is hosted, and the name of the domain. Unfortunately, majority of the Web sites in the Philippines are hosted in US servers where Web hosting is cheap.

"By affixing a .ph on the site, Google can identify the site as Philippine-based even if it is hosted elsewhere," he said.

as of 09/13/2008 12:43 PM