A conference called "Handling Infringement of Domain Names
as to IP Rights" was held on 21 July by the Ministry of
Science and Technology Inspectorate and Ho Chi Minh City Department
of Science and Technology. Its purpose was to help prepare a new
Draft for Circular on Domain Names.
Domain name disputes are controversial because although cases
can be heard in court and decisions are being made, there is still
no proper enforcement mechanism whereby a domain name decision can
be implemented by the National Domain Name operator VNNIC and the
registrar thereunder. See here for an earlier discussion of the problem
which remains unresolved.
An illustration of the problem is the www.ibm.com.vn. A
dispute over this domain name started in 2003 but IBM Vietnam were
unable to recover it and VNNIC would not act. The infringer Gia Hao
Ltd. just disclosed that he has received an official request from
Ministry of Science and Technology to have a meeting with IBM
Vietnam in Hanoi
