Domain Names

Legal advice in the sector of protection of domain names, born as a specialist service provided by the Intellectual and Industrial Property Law Area, developed so much to constitute a dedicated unit within the Firm, by which Tonucci & Partners offers Clients legal assistance in the field of protection and recovery of domain names, both in the administrative and the jurisdictional aspects.

With regard to the jurisdictional protection, the Firm gives assistance during the phase of arrangement and management of precautionary complaints against a suspect illegal registration of domain names (the so – called domain grabbing or cybersquatting), including the management of profiles related to unfair competition and violation of regulations concerning industrial property.

With regard to the administrative assistance on domain names within the “.it” country code, Tonucci & Partners is one of the Provider of the Service of Dispute Resolution (“PSRD”) accredited by the competent Registry (link at www.registro.it) to manage the process of alternative dispute resolution in connection with the so-called “Procedure of Re-assignation of Domain Names”.

A dedicated structured section of the website is available for the submission of complaints and the management of the online procedure. We represent and assist Clients internationally within arbitrations and mediation procedures set up by:

• the World Intellectual Property Organization (link at: wipo.org) applied by persons who claim their rights on domain names, especially the generic top level domain (gtld) (.com, .org, .net, .edu, .int, .biz, .info, .name, .coop, .aero, .museum, .pro, .mil, etc.);
• the EURID, the European Authority applied by persons who claim their rights on domain names within the country code top level domain .eu e .ею (in cyrillic).

In addition, Tonucci & Partners also assists Clients abroad during the administrative phase by representation within the administrative procedures aimed at the recovery and re-assignation of domain names on the foreign geographic suffixes before the national foreign authorities having jurisdiction on registration.

Our services also include:

• assistance to Clients in the correct planning of strategies for the protection of IP asset represented by the choice of domain names;
• contractual assistance in connection with acts having as object domain names within the cc.tld “.it”, according to the technical rules set up by the competent Registry (transfers of domain names by agreement of the parties, mortis causa successions as a particular or universal right, company or branch of company transfers, transformations, incorporations or mergers);
• services of registration by the competent national and foreign authorities responsible for the registration procedure;
• constant services of monitoring, aimed at protection, of Clients’ domain portfolio.