What can you do if someone registered a domain with your business name?
First tell a squatter from someone with a fair claim to the same name. Under ICANN's dispute policy, a trademark owner can ask for a domain to be cancelled or transferred by showing it is identical or confusingly similar to the mark, that the holder has no rights or legitimate interests in it, and that it was registered and is being used in bad faith. A federal court case is the other route. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.
Squatter or fair claim?
ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy gives examples of bad faith. They include registering a name mainly to sell it to the trademark owner or a competitor for more than its documented out-of-pocket costs, mainly to disrupt a competitor's business, or to draw visitors for commercial gain by creating confusion with the mark.
It also lists signs of a legitimate interest, such as using the name for a genuine offering of goods or services before any notice of the dispute, or being commonly known by it. A business with the same name in another state, using the domain for its own work, may well have a fair claim. If someone is posing as your business, the related answer on someone using your business name online covers that.
Route one: ICANN's dispute policy
ICANN says all registrars must follow the policy, and that disputes over abusive registrations, cybersquatting for example, can go through an expedited administrative proceeding: the trademark owner files a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution provider. The policy limits the remedies to cancelling the domain or transferring it to the complainant. It says the complainant pays the provider's fees, except when the holder asks for a three-member panel, in which case the fees are split. Either side can still take the dispute to court before or after.
Route two: a federal court case
The federal "Cyberpiracy prevention" provision, 15 U.S.C. 1125(d) on Cornell's Legal Information Institute, lets the owner of a mark sue a person who has a bad faith intent to profit from the mark and who registers, traffics in or uses a domain that is identical or confusingly similar to a mark that was distinctive when the domain was registered. A court may order the domain forfeited, cancelled or transferred to the mark's owner. In some cases the owner can bring the action against the domain name itself.
Why a trademark helps
Both routes start from rights in a mark, so a business whose name is a registered trademark usually has an easier case to make. The related answer on choosing a domain name covers checking for trademark conflicts before you buy. This is a plain summary, not legal advice: whether your name qualifies, and which route fits, are questions for a trademark lawyer.
Before you pay, and next time
Buying the domain back can look quickest, but take that decision with a lawyer. Under the policy, a name registered mainly to sell to the trademark owner for more than its documented costs is evidence of bad faith if the panel finds it, and an asking price can matter to that; paying can also invite the next offer. To lower the odds next time, register the obvious variants and common misspellings of your name early, and keep every domain in the business's name, as the related answer on who should own your domain name explains.
Sources
- ICANN, "Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy" (general information)
- ICANN, "Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy" (updated 21 February 2024)
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, "15 U.S. Code § 1125"
Related answers
- What can you do if someone is using your business name online?
- How do you choose a domain name for a small business?
- Who should own your business's domain name?
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