Region: Europe

The European Commission has indicated that the eligibility rules governing the registration of '.name' domain names are consistent with the EU Data Protection Directive only when individuals are given sufficient control over the registration and use of their name as a domain name.

08 November 2002

Thousands of desirable '.com.ua' domain names have today became available for registration by new owners. According to the '.com.ua' domain name policy, all existing third-level domain names had to be re-registered before midnight last night.

04 November 2002

In the case of <i>Bjørgu AS v Transporthåndboken.no AS</i>, a court in Fredrikstad has issued a preliminary injunction forbidding Transporthåndboken.no from using the phrase 'The Transport Manual' (<i>Transporthåndboken</i>) as a domain name, company name or general mark, based on a violation of the Marketing Act.

30 October 2002

A Nominet Dispute Resolution Service panel has overturned a decision that allowed a fan to keep his domain name to a site that paid tribute to cartoon character Scooby-Doo. The appeal panel felt that the respondent's use of the domain name prevented the claimant from controlling its goodwill.

24 October 2002

Nominet has responded to privacy concerns about its plans to publish the names and addresses of those who register '.uk' domain names by offering an opt-out scheme for its WHOIS database.

23 October 2002

The Dutch Foundation for Internet Domain Name Registration has announced changes to the regulations governing the registration of '.nl' names. The new rules are due to take effect by the end of the year and will, among other things, remove previous country-specific requirements.

16 October 2002

The European Commission has issued a call for expressions of interest in running the '.eu' domain registry, to be received by October 25. The '.eu' Top-Level Domain Regulation sets out the registry's duties and lists a series of selection criteria that will be applied.

09 October 2002

The Paris High Court is confused about the treatment of protest sites. In one case, involving Areva, it ruled that the reproduction of a trademark along with additional elements does not amount to trademark infringement under the EU Trademark Directive. A few weeks earlier, it had held that replacing 'S' with '$' in the ESSO trademark did amount to infringement.

02 October 2002

Nominet has announced that domain names ending in '.uk' which were registered before August 1 1996 will be cancelled unless the registrants get in touch with their internet service providers and confirm they still want the names.

02 October 2002

Ukraine's Parliament has passed a law that amends the country's intellectual property legislation to protect trademarks and service marks on the Internet. Selling goods or services with an unauthorized mark online is now unlawful, as is cybersquatting.

30 September 2002