Domain dispute: Is there ever an end?

Recently, in the process of handling industrial property (IP) violations, Inspectorate of the Ministry of Science and Technology has discovered many cases of unfair competition related to domain names. The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Science and Technology has asked Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC) to recover the domain names that have been violated, but VNNIC has not agreed.

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Recently, in our country, many disputes over domain names have arisen. But popular is the form of disputes arising between a party owner of a trademark (NHHH) with the party that possesses the same name as the trademark, but still granted a registration by VNNIC in the form of a domain name. When there is a complaint to protect the allocation of '.vn' domain names as happened with other banks like Heineken, Tiger Beer and Ford. Visa, Trung Nguyen, Vietcombank . VNNIC's views are often inconsistent. The allocation and fee collection of domain names seem to be not considered by the management agency to minimize the abuse of other subjects' interests. VNNIC applies the principle of 'Who pre-applies first,' and 'Equality does not discriminate'.

Trung Nguyen brand Vietnamese coffee has also been disputed.( Photo: HNMĐT )

In fact, the above principle is only a small part of many other principles in accordance with industry regulations as well as other legal regulations that VNNIC should apply when resolving licensing or resolving domain names. In Decision No. 27/2005 / QD-BBCVT, dated 11/8/2005 of the Ministry of Post and Telematics, there are many principles applied for registration and exploitation of domain names with only two principles that VNNIC mentioned. out.

Ms. Hoang Minh Hien, Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Science and Technology said that, over the past time, the Ministry of Science and Technology Inspectorate has received many applications for handling acts of registering and seizing the right to use identical or similar domain names to cause confusion mixed with protected trademarks, trade names or geographical indications for which they do not have the right to use for the purpose of occupying the domain name, taking advantage of or damaging the reputation and reputation of the trademark or trade name. and corresponding geographical indications. This is an act of unfair competition related to intellectual property stipulated in Point d, Clause 1, Article 130 of the Intellectual Property Law.

In order to handle the above violations, the Law on Intellectual Property (Clause 3, Article 211) and Decree 106/2006 / ND-CP dated September 22, 2006 stipulate the sanctioning of administrative violations on ownership. Industry (Article 16) cited penalties for these acts in accordance with regulations on handling violations of the law in the field of competition (Decree 120/2005 / ND-CP dated September 30, 2005). However, Decree 120/2005 / ND-CP does not prescribe sanctions for these acts.

Therefore, in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals as well as well perform the state management functions of ministries and branches, while waiting for additional and perfecting regulations on sanctions penalties for acts of unfair competition related to domain names, the Ministry of Science and Technology Inspectorate has sent a written request to VNNIC to handle this. Accordingly, for the cases that the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Science and Technology concludes is an unfair competition act specified at Point d, Clause 1, Article 130 of the Intellectual Property Law, VNNIC shall base on point a and point b, Clause 3, Article 13, Decision No. 27/2005 / QD-BBCVT of August 11, 2005, of the Ministry of Post and Telematics, promulgating regulations on the management and use of Internet resources to recover infringed domain names .

VNNIC: Must sue in court

In response to the above request of the Ministry of Science and Technology Inspector, VNNIC representative said that the resolution of domain name disputes is still a new issue and there are no specific provisions in legal documents of Vietnam. The resolution of unfair competition issues stipulated in Article 198 of the Intellectual Property Law shall be implemented through the right to self-protection in the form of requesting the application of civil remedies in court. . So the settlement of these cases is currently only the Court who has the authority to decide.

Regarding domain name dispute resolution, VNNIC said that the Law on Information Technology in Article 68 also assigned the Ministry of Post and Telematics to prescribe domain name registration, management, use and settlement. Vietnamese country 'VN'. Currently, the Ministry of Post and Telematics is in the process of developing regulations on dispute settlement of 'VN' domain names. Therefore, VNNIC has asked the Ministry of Science and Technology Inspector to contact the Ministry of Post and Telematics directly to make additional contributions to complete the regulations, especially issues related to trademarks and names. trade, geographical indications. VNNIC will enforce according to the issued regulations.

Many businesses are very worried if there is no transparency, more objective delimitation from the agency responsible for managing and granting permission to use and exploit Internet resources, the disputes on Vietnam's Internet resources have not yet there is an end, and the occupation of domain names to speculate profiteering continues to rage.

Quang Anh - Đức Trường