Internet domains and legal protection of domain names are enjoying a rapid growth in awareness among businesses and individuals not only world-wide, but also in the Czech Republic. Undoubtedly it is the internet, what has been the biggest change in our lives in past 15 years. Originally a military project, which turned to be "something" more than anticipated. Internet alone is a brand new world and therefore there must be certain rules to run and to control it. Thanks to rapid improvement of connectivity, above all after broadband connections had been implemented with vast majority of citizens, this medium has become a mass medium and the law enforcement of rules has become more important and common. The goal of this diploma thesis is to create a view of field of internet domains and related law issues, above all concerning the protection of the names of domains. The essential part of the thesis is so called ADR part. It handles the way of resolution of disputes. Information in this thesis is based both on professional sources and on own experience which I gained with my internet projects or even with domain disputes. This document is not intended to be solely an academic text but also a practical guide that will help "everyday users" of internet. This diploma thesis is divided into theoretical beginning and then it focuses on practical law part. Chapters are made of sections which build together a complex overview of the field of law issues. In the end of the thesis there is described so called "ADR" with ".eu" domains. The whole law framework in the thesis is supplemented by real examples from real life and therefore the thesis has the ambition to improve the readers' (law) knowledge in this field.

Resumé Unfair Competition (Conception of Legal Regulation, Selected Facts in Issue) Cybersquatting - a term that is often used but less often defined. The purpose of this Thesis is to deal with this phenomenon, to try to define it and mainly to assess applicability of the legal regulation of unfair competition not only to this phenomenon but also to other unfair practices in the field of information technologies connected in some way with domain names. The Thesis has been divided into two basic parts: The first part deals with the conception of the legal regulation of unfair competition in the Czech Republic. Here, the signs of the general clause contained in Section 44(1) of the Commercial Code are discussed in detail and the doctrine of competitive relations that is mostly applied in practice is critically evaluated. The first part of this Thesis also includes a proposal for a solution to overcoming the limits of this doctrine in the form of a two-stage test of practices in commercial intercourse whose part is the proposed conception of the economic conflict of interest which allows the persons involved to take legal actions against those competitors who use unfair practices despite their company's objects being quite different. In this part, the reader can even find some de lege ferenda considerations...

Domain names as trademarks and their protection Martin Pultzner Importance of the internet is rising year to year and the virtual presence on the world- wide-web is absolutely essential for companies trying to succeed in such a competitive and dynamic environment as we see it in the modern world of 21st century. Due to the architecture of an internet as such, only one particular domain name can be registered at the given time and no other domain name with the exactly same wording can be registered anywhere in the world at the same time. There is a strict "first-come-first served" policy, which, on the one side, grants equal and fair access to any domain name, but on the other hand creates significant room for domain speculators and other persons who intend to register domain names in a bad faith and/or only for the profit therefrom. We mainly recognize behavior called cybersquatting or typosquatting, but also others subtypes and similar types of such behavior do exist under different names. These are problematic because of the conflict of a domain name (registered by the speculator) and rights to the trademark, business name or other rights of a different person, mostly a company. Internet users can therefore be misled by the domain name, presuming that it belongs to the known company and get...

The protection of domain names through trademarks The main purpose of my thesis is to define a status of domain names from a legal standpoint and also to analyze the possibility of covering the protection of domain names through trademarks. Assuming that a domain name fulfills conditions stipulated by a law it may become a subject to trademark laws and can be registered as a trademark in the register kept by the Industrial Property Office. The thesis is composed of five chapters. The first part of introductory chapter focuses on the technical aspects of domain names and institutions directly related to domain names. It focuses on history of the Internet, IP addresses and DNS servers. The second part of the first chapter is devoted to the structure and registration of domain names and also to foreign institutions directly related to of the Internet and its domain names. The second chapter describes the status of domain names in the Czech legal system and compares the legislation of Act no. 40/1964 Coll., The Civil Code and Act no. 89/2012 Coll., The Civil Code, relating to domain names as the subject of civil relations. The main subject of the third chapter are trademarks. This chapter defines the concept, function and types of trademarks. Furthermore, this chapter describes absolute and relative...

Le nom de domaine était inventé pour localiser sur Internet. Son valeur augment en tant qu'une ressource importante pour les entreprises. Ils ont été reconnu un type d'un signe distinctif par les jurisprudences. Le principe de « premier arrivé, premier servi » est appliqué pour enregistrer. Le problème est qu'il n'existe pas de système permettant aux registraires de filtrer au préalable les demandes susceptibles de poser problème. Ils peuvent entrer en conflit avec d'autres signes distinctifs, notamment avec les marques. Les causes peuvent expliquer par les différences des systèmes. En principe, les litiges relatifs aux noms de domaine découlent de la pratique du cybersquattage. L'apparition du cyber squattage et l'augmentation rapide du nombre de conflits nuisent à la sécurité légale. Pour résoudre ces conflits, on peut utiliser deux procédures : la procédure extrajudiciaire et judiciaire. L'UDRP procédure a été mise en place par l'ICANN. Cette procédure est évaluée comme peu coûteuse, rapide et efficace. Beaucoup de pays opèrent la procédure extrajudiciaire très similaire avec l'UDRP. En ce qui concerne des litiges « .eu », la procédure ADR est lancée. Les tribunaux de chaque pays sont en train d'essayer de régler les conflits relatifs au cybersquattage sous le fondement des lois tels que le droit de marque, le droit de concurrence déloyale et droit civil. Comme les systèmes légaux de chaque de pays sont différents, le critère appliqué ne peut pas être identique. En conclusion, le système légal pour règlementer les conflits est en train de développer au niveau international. Il est nécessaire d'harmoniser le système de règlement des conflits. / The domain name was invented to identify on Internet. His value has become an important resource for companies. The domain name was recognized a kind of distinctive sign by jurisprudence. The principle of "first come, first serve" is applied for registration. The problem is that there is no system to filter in advance some applications that may bring about a problem.Domain names may conflict with other distinctive signs, particularly with the trademarks. The causes of conflicts can be explained by the differences in systems. In principle, the disputes related to domain names come mainly from the practice of cybersquatting. The emergence of cybersquatting and their rapid increase of conflicts hinder legal security.To resolve these conflicts, two procedures can be used: the administrative procedure and the judicial procedure. The UDRP procedure has been implemented by ICANN. This procedure is evaluated as a less expensive, fast and efficient. Many countries including the France operate the administrative procedure that is very similar with the UDRP. With regard to disputes '.eu', the ADR procedure was launched. Each country's courts are currently trying to resolve disputes related to cybersquatting by the laws such as trademark law, unfair competition law and civil law. As each country's legal systems are different, the applied criteria aren't the same.In conclusion, the legal system to regulate conflicts between trademark and domain name is developing internationally and domestically. It is necessary to harmonise the system of resolution of disputes at the international level.

Univ., Diss.--St. Gallen, 2001.

The thesis analyses selected aspects of domain-name law, mainly from the perspective of trade-mark law. It discusses the evolution of the domain-name system and how it operates as background to a more detailed discussion of the theoretical classification of domain names. The thesis then examines the interplay between trade marks and domain names, and the resolution of domain-name disputes resulting from the inherent tension between these two systems. The main principles of domain-name dispute resolution are identified by way of an analysis of the panel decisions handed down in terms of the international Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the South African domain name dispute resolution regulations. This analysis always addresses, too, the extent to which national trade-mark law principles (with reference to the laws of South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America) apply, and the extent to which this is appropriate. / Private Law / LL.D.

The thesis analyses selected aspects of domain-name law, mainly from the perspective of trade-mark law. It discusses the evolution of the domain-name system and how it operates as background to a more detailed discussion of the theoretical classification of domain names. The thesis then examines the interplay between trade marks and domain names, and the resolution of domain-name disputes resulting from the inherent tension between these two systems. The main principles of domain-name dispute resolution are identified by way of an analysis of the panel decisions handed down in terms of the international Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the South African domain name dispute resolution regulations. This analysis always addresses, too, the extent to which national trade-mark law principles (with reference to the laws of South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America) apply, and the extent to which this is appropriate. / Private Law / LL.D.