Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (dot-ca domain names)

Dispute resolution policies for domain names are vital today because anyone can buy up domain names even if they are no legitimate business interest in using them for commercial purposes (other than to resell domain names). What gives you legal entitlement to a domain name if someone else already owns it? The registered owner of a trademark has the legal right to use the mark, including use of the mark as a domain name.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, who has used the trademark ENTERPRISE in Canada in association with the provision of rental car services, recently filed a complaint with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) against an individual who had acquired rights to 12 domain names, all of which included the word ENTERPRISE. The domain names at issue were being used in relation to travel services and linked to the websites for Enterprise’s competitors. The registrant had purchased domain names similar to other rental car companies and was known to have a history of cyber squatting activities (ie. selling domain names at prices over and above the costs of registration).

Enterprise won the dispute and had ownership of the disputed domain names transferred to itself. The decision of CIRA found that the domain names being used were confusingly similar with the mark already owned by Enterprise, they had been registered in bad faith, and the registrant did not have any legitimate interest in the domain names.