[Random-bits] China Creates Website Name Registry

[James Love]

CHINA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LAW NEWSLETTER 
Vol. 1, No. 11 - September 11, 2000 

China Creates Website Name Registry

In light of the increasing incidence of website name infringement in
China, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce
(BMAIC) has begun regulating website names by issuing the "Interim
Procedures on Registration and Filing Website Names" and its
implementing regulation late last month. Such infringement occurs when a
domain name is translated into Chinese. For instance, China.com and
Zhongguo.com both mean the same thing, Zhongguo being the pinyin for
China in Chinese. So either website could potentially use the same
characters to describe itself. Under the new regulations, website names
are subject to completely distinct regulations from those governing
domain names. Each domain name can have no more than 3 names. BMAIC is
in charge of all website-name registration thoughout China, and applies
a first-to-file rule to settle conflicts. After registration, the owner
of the name has legal power to sue infringing entities. However, the
owner is required to keep the website in operation; BMAIC will check
website-name owner's compliance annually. The registration process can
be done online, at http://hd315.gov.cn/

-- 
James Love  mailto:love@cptech.org http://www.cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology, P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
voice 1.202.387.8030  fax  1.202.234.5176