Trademark infringements in the domain “.CZ”

Abstract

The aim of this article is to fill a gap in an area that has not yet been closely examined in the Czech Republic and the world: examining the level of trademark infringement in relation to the basic elements of the logical architecture of the Internet, namely domain names, resp. Websites that are published on them. The article aims to determine the actual state and create a methodology of rapid, and to some extent automated detection of the collision of rights connected to trademarks with domain names. Not only for the large scope of the investigated subject has it focused on the sector of the automotive industry in particular. Given the aim of the work, it answers questions whether the phenomenon of trademark infringement on the Internet is rather a minor issue, which concerns only a fraction of domain names and websites; whether the domains names, resp. websites violating the trademark rights share any similar characters; whether it is possible to automate the search process of finding trademark infringements or if there is a way of finding general rules that can be a valuable help in this process. The first part of the article describes the used methodology, sources of available data and the way the data were worked with. The next part deals in detail with input data that are relevant for this article. It describes the ways the data were obtained and the constraints that needed to be overcome doing so. Basic statistical parameters of the input data are also mentioned. The third part is focused on the important findings found in input data relating to Czech domain names and trademarks used on the Internet followed by detail examination of the Czech domain names for the sector of the automotive industry. By using the defined indicators of a collision (the characters) the results of the article show that the domain names on which the trademark infringement has been committed, share the same set of characters that can be tested automatically by a computer program.