At a news conference this week, WIPO senior official Francis Gurry specifically addressed the uptick in domain registrations that are computer-generated.
The practice, usually called domain tasting or domain kiting refers to registrants using the five-day grace period at the beginning of a domain registration for ICANN-regulated top-level domains to test its marketability.
Most of the names registrants retain were previously used and have since expired, misspellings of popular sites or generic terms (maybe a letter or two off) that receive type-in traffic.
“Domain names used to be primarily specific identifiers of businesses and other Internet users, but many names nowadays are mere commodities for speculative gain,” Gurry said.
The problems with this speculative market, Curry cautions, are twofold: It could leave trademark owners with nightmare challenges battling infringers, and it makes the Internet a confusing place for surfers to locate authentic sites.
The catalyst for Gurry’s comments were the record number of domain name disputes his organization handled last year — 1,823 — the most since 2000.
WIPO has handled more than 10,000 domain name disputes during its eight-year history, in which complainants won 85 percent of the time.