A tenants' rights association in Taipei alleged yesterday that five moving companies accredited by it had been "blackmailed" over Internet domain names.
Ma Ma Tsuei Housing Service Association
A cybersquatter is someone who registers the Web address of a company in the hopes of making a profit by later selling the domain to the company.
The moving companies said yesterday the squatter had threatened to use the domain names to set up Web sites for other moving businesses if they refused to pay him for ownership of the addresses.
The squatter allegedly asked the five companies pay up to NT$50,000.
Currently, registration of Chinese-language domain names ending the ".tw" suffix, Taiwan's country code, costs NT$625 and is handled by the Taiwan Net and Information Center, a non-governmental agency.
Lin Yi-cheng (林宜誠), a board director of the tenants' association, said cybersquatting threatened both the rights of consumers and the moving companies.
"They are trading upon the credibility that these companies have earned to confuse consumers for their own profit," Lin said. "If cybersquatters start recruiting clients on the Internet using domain names that incorporate the trademarks of accredited companies, consumers will be fooled into using the cybersquatters' service, which is not accredited."
The association urged the public to be aware of the risk of fraud on the part of unproven moving companies. They said that local residents who are searching for moving companies on the Net should connect to the association's Web site first.
The association also urged the agencies administering the Internet in Taiwan to seek solutions to the problem of cybersquatting.
Taiwan Net plans to establish an arbitration center for domain name registration disputes at the end of the month. However, under the resolution process, companies bringing domain name disputes to arbitration must pay as much as NT$100,000 in fees.
Chen Jen-chieh (
Internationally, governments in general have kept a distance from the administration of Internet domain name registration matters, leaving disputes to third parties to handle.
Lin said that arbitration wouldn't necessarily prevent losses to of trademark owners caused by cybersquatting.
He said cybersquatting could develop as a highly profitable business in Taiwan.
"Cybersquatters only need to pay NT$625 for each registration ? They know that they can make a profit because the owners of the trademark, whose rights have been violated, will succumb to their blackmailing, which will cost them less than arbitration."
Lin and Chen said one way in which Taiwan Net could address this problem would be by reducing the cost of arbitration.
Lin added, however, that prevention was better than a cure. "In fact, the best way to rule out cybersquatting would be for Taiwan Net to take preventive measures," he said.
"They should require applicants for domain names involving the trademark of a company to prove their actual ownership of the trademark before allowing the registration," he said.
Taiwan Net currently does not require proof of trademark ownership.
Lu Miao-ling (
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