The Legal Regulation of Domain Names

This research deals with the legal Reguation of domain names as they go beyond being a technical system that recognizes and distinguishes sites to include the intellectual property's rights in defining projects and the excellence of their products or online services. The double nature of these names has led to a division in the position of domain names' registration authorities, the jurisprudence opinion، and the comparative judicial rules over the legal nature for these names، what is the best legal system that can provide the best legal protection for them? Is it out of the intellectual property frame? Is it part of the existed intellectual property? Or is it a special-natured independent right? Defining the legal nature of domain names contributes to the determination of the perfect legal system through which the legal protection's domain can be defined. Consequently, determining the legal mean that applies on the dispute. The research addresses the topic of domain names by demonstrating the legal nature for domain names in two theories. The first theory excluded the domain name from the intellectual property’s frame. The founders of the first theory are divided into two parties, the first party said that domain name is generally out of the intellectual property's frame. The first party is dependent in their position, to the basic and main function of domain names, is the technical function of identification the title of a web site and does not depart from its scope, despite their recognition of the function of the intellectual property of these names. On the other hand, the founders of the second perspective considered domain names as just a legal idea that was totally independent from any existed legal system including the laws that organize intellectual property. However, some of them believed that domain name was a contractual right, others believed that it was a property right and the research showed that major stance for the domain names registration authorities, the jurisprudence opinion, and the legal comparative rules have considered the contractual nature of the domain names relating that to the fact that these names are granted based on an electronic contract service held between the domain name registration's applicant and the specialized registration authority whereby the domain names owners are given the right to use the domain name for a specific period of time. The second theory dealt with the nature of domain names by considering them as part of the intellectual property. The second party demonstrated the position of these names among other property possession's elements and showed the extent to which the domain name can be considered a business address, a trade mark, or a banner. The vast majority's jurisprudence opinion supported the idea of the necessity of adding domain name to the trade and economic property elements since it was a special-natured fresh element. They also supported establishing its own rules. In spite of that, the research has found that the rules govern trademarks are better suit the domain names because there is no legislation that organizes these names and deals with their rules, and the nature they have is close to trademarks' nature. Consequently, this provides protection for the domain names' owners under such legislative shortage. The research also showed the jurisprudence's opinions regarding the extent to which domain name can be considered as a trademark as well as the extent to which domain names can be protected as unregistered and registered trademarks. Furthermore، the research addressed the way of protecting these names from a legal perspective illustrating the formal conditions that have to be met when registering these names. These conditions include the practical procedures to register names. Regarding the choice of the domain name to be registered، register the name، pay due fees، and data that the registration applicants' have to provide to register these names at the time of concluding the service contract. Finally, the researcher reached some findings and recommendations, which represents the epitome Search in this Thread.