Latest Developments in the Regulation of ccTLDs: Comparative Analysis of , and

Abstract

Using trade names of world-famous companies or just “high-value” titles in the domain names for sale or advertisement purposes, otherwise known as cybersquatting, nowadays is a deeply rooted problem. Thus, the situation brings challenge to the legal regulation of domain names all over the world. After comparing the legal regulation of domain names in countries, such as Lithuania, Kazakhstan and Slovakia, it is to be noted that the common tendency reveals the following: the legislators in all these countries are equally reluctant to define domain names as objects of intellectual property, allowing the case law and legal science to come up to a common concept.
However, although a significant period of time has passed since the introduction of domain names, no specific domain name legislation exist in the analyzed countries. It contributes to confusion and, on the other hand, allows for the legal leeway.
Legal regulation of domain names in Lithuania, Kazakhstan and Slovakia has more common traits than differences. All of the countries have open registration systems, respecting the first come-first served principle.
Nevertheless, the author also revealed that the resolution of national court disputes is remarkably similar to the decisions in <.com> cases, which are resolved according to ICANN UDRP procedure. In all of the mentioned countries, the activity of cybersquatting has been unanimously recognized as being against the law, but in those decisions, where a conflict between a company name, a trademark and any other identifiers arises, a variety of legal opinions is also evident. Despite that, the good news is that the related national case law is approaching towards the common international rules and procedures pioneered by the ICANN UDRP in the <.com> cases.