Anarchy Or Revolution? Cybersquatting Under The New gTLD Regime

By this time next year, it is very likely that ICANN will have approved at least some of the new generic toplevel domains (gTLDs) for launch. With the ever increasing level of smartphone penetration, the development of mobile e-commerce and the ubiquity of the internet's role in daily life, this new phase of internet development has the potential to change user behaviour forever. Are trademark owners prepared for this unprecedented online revolution?

By 2015 the number of generic top-level domains will be in the process of exploding from the current 22 to somewhere between 1000 and 2000. The large majority of these will be 'open' domain names, meaning that anyone is entitled to apply to register a second-level domain name without pre-conditions, such as membership of an industry, authorisation by a particular organisation or residence in a particular location. Even where the TLD name is 'closed' and subject to specific applicant conditions, such as whether a brand