Expert: Dan Pepper - 3/1/2009

Question
I never registered my business's domain name, now someone else owns it. Can I legally have them remove it, rename it or shut it down?

Answer
You would need to follow The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP), which is a process established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the resolution of disputes regarding the registration of internet domain names. The UDRP currently applies to all .biz, .com, .info, .name, .net, and .org top-level domains, and some country code top-level domains.

When a registrant chooses a domain name, the registrant must “represent and warrant,” among other things, that registering the name “will not infringe upon or otherwise violate the rights of any third party,” and agree to participate in an arbitration-like proceeding should any third party assert such a claim.

A complainant in a UDRP proceeding must establish three elements to succeed:

   * The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights;
   * The registrant does not have any rights or legitimate interests in the domain name; and
   * The registrant registered the domain name and is using it in "bad faith."

The last element is the most difficult to prove.  If you are unable to show each of these three elements, the other party is entitled to keep and use the domain name.