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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what statistics the Government collate on (a) incidences and (b) the cost to British business of cybersquatting on British companies and individuals. [187952] Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government do not run the internet and we do not have responsibility for internet domain names. Statistics for Top Level Domain names are held on the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Arbitration and Mediation Center website (www.arbiter.wipo.int/.domains/index.html). Since 1999 WIPO has recorded 554 instances of disputes for generic top level domain names (.int .com etc.) in which the complainant was domiciled in the UK. Nominet UK is responsible for .uk internet domain name registration. As of 31 August there were over 3.6 million .uk registrations in Nominet's register database. To date, Nominet has received 1,813 disputes into its Dispute Resolution Procedure since September 2001. Nominet's Dispute Resolution Procedure is free of charge and Nominet provides it's administrative and mediation services free. The domain name registry responsible for .com, .net etc. offer similar dispute resolution procedures; where they are administered by WIPO they are subject to fees as set out at (www.arbiter.wipo.int/domains/fees/index.html).

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

424 c1533-4W;424 c1531-2W; 187952

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Companies Costs Business Intellectual property Internet Misrepresentation Registration Trade marks

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk