This month's entry focuses on how to protect your brand
from Cybersquatting and Cyberpiracy. The are at least three ways a
brand owner can deal with these issues. The first is by way of an
action in the courts. Because of the expense of such proceedings
they should be limited to the most serious cases. We will deal with
the other methods in future entries.
Generally, actions brought in the courts for passing off have
succeeded in enjoining this type of activity. For example, in the
leading case the defendant systematically registered
domain names containing the brand names of well-known British
companies presumably to sell them back to the brand owners. The
Court found this constituted trademark infringement under the U.K.
legislation and passing off. The approach taken has been adopted in
many Canadian decisions.
