Internet - Cybersquatters face eviction by Icann

Icann plans tough measures for those unscrupulously registering web names.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), last week approved a list of guidelines to clamp down on cybersquatters. The move comes at a time when international companies have been getting increasingly angry about the growing practice of cybersquatting, where internet website names are unscrupulously registered and then sold off to the non-internet trademark owners.

Icann will develop a system within the next six weeks to monitor the registration of domain names and to resolve any disputes that may occur about trademarks. Previously this has involved long and very expensive legal suits.

Icann chief executive Michael Roberts said the policy is at a draft stage, but that guidelines have been agreed by the board and some 20 of the 60 companies licensed as registrars of domain names.

From October onwards, registrars will refuse a request to register a domain where it looks like a clear-cut case of cybersquatting.

If a dispute arises, an arbitration group with the power to strip owners of their domain names will assemble. The group will decide whether the domain name holder is commonly known by the domain name, even if they do not have the trademark or service rights.

www.icann.org.