THIS ARTICLE IS WRITTEN BY Ansari Shaheen a final year student at the University of Mumbai.

INTRODUCTION:

Trademark is the identity of every business. Without a trademark business cannot survive, it shows the visibility of a business. It is a great asset for every business. Imagine if any trademark infringes then how the company will survive? How will the company end up with? This is the biggest challenge of trademarking in cyberspace. Infringement is the main problem.

MEANING:

TRADEMARK: A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination of these things that identifies your goods or services. It’s how customers recognize you in the marketplace and distinguish you from your competitors.

CYBERSPACE: Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. “The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world ‘apart’, as distinct from everyday reality.

DEFINITION:

TRADEMARK: Section 28 in the Trade Marks Act, of 1999 provides the owners exclusive rights to use their trademarks and also permits them the right to accuse of infringement of their rights and seek damages, injunctions, and profit-related accounts. The preservation of trademarks advances the main three policies which are consumer protection, the preservation of goodwill of a trademark holder, and economic efficiency.

CYBERSPACE: According to Investopedia, Cyberspace refers to the virtual computer world, and more specifically, an electronic medium that is used to facilitate online communication. Cyberspace typically involves a large computer network made up of many worldwide computer subnetworks that employ TCP/IP protocol to aid in communication and data exchange activities.

IMPORTANCE OF TRADEMARK:

1. Valuable Asset: A trademark is a very valuable asset for the company as the company grows automatically the value of the trademark will also grow i.e., appreciation of the asset. 
2. Identification of Brand: Trademarks will enable the prospective customer to identify the company brands. Identification of a brand is very essential for the company because it distinguishes it from a competitive brand. 
3. Effective Communication tool: A trademark is an effective communication tool. It represents the company’s brands. For instance, when looking for the shape of the yellow color ‘M’, it gives the signal of McDonald’s. 
4. Last long: Trademark is the last long for the company. As it requires registration of 10 years. The trademark remains forever with the company.
5. Uniqueness: Trademark gives uniqueness to a brand from a competitive brand. It becomes easier to distinguish from the competitive company. 

IMPORTANCE OF CYBERSPACE:

1. Virtual Space: Cyberspace required no physical existence as it does not restrict to geographical space. It extends to the whole world. It can communicate with anyone and everyone.
2. Effective communication: With the help of cyberspace, communication becomes easy as compared to traditional one. It gives the time management advantage.
3. Monetary Benefit: With the help of cyberspace, it gives the benefit to the user from the monetary prospect. As it does not require much monetary support as compared to traditional ones. 
4. Development: With the help of Cyberspace, it builds development in the country. Technology brings development and growth to the country.

TRADEMARK CHALLENGES IN THE CYBERSPACE:

IP is a great asset of every company; it becomes very important to prevent IP from any misuse. A domain name is an aspect in which conflict arises in cyberspace. It is like an address that is used by the people to access that particular website. It can be a combination of words, symbols, and numbers.

1. Cybersquatting: Cybersquatting can be a challenge to the trademark in cyberspace. According to Wikipedia, Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting) is the practice of registering, trafficking in or using an Internet domain name, with a bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.

For example, ABC. Co. Ltd is a popular cosmetic company. This company has not created any website yet. In this scenario, someone can purchase the company domain and sell it or create a website to lure traffic and generate income from advertising. 

In the past, many companies are victims of cybersquatting like Panasonic, Fry’s Electronics, Hertz, and Avon. 

2. Typo squatting: Typo squatting is very risky for the user who types an incorrect domain name. For instance, if the user types SONI. COM instead of SONY.COM. Suppose here previously anyone who had purchased a domain name of SONI. COM with bad faith can make a great advantage from it. Typo squatting is also known as URL hijacking, domain mimicry, sting sites, or fake URLs.
3. Linking: Linking can be also a great challenge when referring to any website. Any link can take the user from one page to another which is not relevant to the user. Many companies have a domain name but existence is absent. Through the linking of these companies, fraud can happen easily. 
4. Renewal Snatching: Every domain is not fixed they need to be renewed over time. Any person who has bad faith in earning from the expiry company domain name can make huge gains from this. Every company needs to renew its domain name from time to time to avoid this problem. 

  REMEDIES: 

In India remedies for this problem are available as follows:

1. Court
2. Arbitration
3. National Internet Exchange of India (NiXi)
4. WIPO Mechanism

From these above remedies, anyone can take help to find the solution to this problem. 

CASE LAW:

Rediff Case: Rediff.com India Ltd has won a cybersquatting case against a Pakistani person, Daniyal Waseem of Quetta Pakistan was using the domain name Rediffpk.com. Original rights of a trademark lie in Rediff.com India Ltd. So, therefore Rediff.com India Ltd. approached the WIPO to resolve this dispute. 

CONCLUSION: 

As we are on the verge of the fast-growing tech world. The problem related to trademarks arises, from many sources. There should be also a need for a fast-growing solution to resolve this problem. Many business entities lie on their domain name because for them it is a great asset. It shows the identification of the business, uniqueness, and effective communication tool. No one can make stop any third from infringing the domain name of the business entity. So there are many options available to get disputes resolved like litigation, mediation, and arbitration.

REFERENCES:

1. https://blog.ipleaders.in/what-can-i-do-to-protect-my-trademark-in-cyberspace-an-overview/#:~:text=Trademark%20issues%20in%20cyberspace%20have,products%20by%20scribbling%20on%20them.
2. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/cybersquatting-what-what-can-be-29778.html
3. https://blog.ipleaders.in/trademark-issues-related-to-internet-domain-names/
4. https://www.slideshare.net/himanshuarora90/trademark-issues-in-cyberspace 

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