CPD Course:
Internet Domain Names
Disputes:
Principles and Practice

Julien Chaisse is Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Faculty of Law.  He is an award-winning scholar of international law with a special focus on the regulation and development of economic globalization.  His teaching and research include international trade/investment law, international taxation, law of natural resources, and Internet law. Prior to joining CUHK in 2009, Dr. Chaisse was a senior research fellow at the World Trade Institute (Switzerland).  He also held an appointment as lecturer at elite school Sciences Po Aix (France) and served as a diplomat at the Embassy of France in New Delhi (India).

Dr. Chaisse is frequently invited to lecture at many academic institutions and leading universities around the world, including Columbia University (U.S.), University of Oxford (U.K.), Melbourne University (Australia), Tokyo University (Japan), and Tsinghua University (China).  Dr. Chaisse has published numerous well-regarded and widely-cited books and articles, such as "The Regulation of Global Water Services Market", Cambridge University Press (2017); "International Economic Law and Governance", Oxford University Press (2016); "Shareholder Protection Reloaded", Stanford Journal of International Law (2016); "Navigating the Expanding Universe of International Treaties on Foreign Investment", Journal of International Economic Law (2015); "Maintaining the WTO's Supremacy in the International Trade Order", Journal of International Economic Law (2013); and "Promises and Pitfalls of the European Union Policy on Foreign Investment", Journal of International Economic Law (2012).

In recognition of his outstanding academic performance, Dr. Chaisse received the CUHK Vice-Chancellor's Exemplary Teaching Award in 2015 and the CUHK Research Award in 2012.  Dr. Chaisse has held the appointment of Director of the Centre for Financial Regulation and Economic Development at CUHK Law since 2013, and has established forward-looking legal projects and events at CUHK, including the series of "Asia FDI Forum", which has become the most prominent conference on foreign investment regulation in Asia.

In addition to his professorship, Dr. Chaisse is a well-experienced arbitrator and a leading consultant to international organizations, governments, multinational law firms, and private investors.  He is also member of some of the world's foremost organizations, including the World Economic Forum's International Trade and Investment Council and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in which Dr. Chaisse serves on the Working Group on gTLDs' rights protection mechanisms review and the Accountability and Transparency Review program.

Internet domain names are true economic assets which raises important legal issues.  In this respect, companies have realised that having a domain name that is the same as their company name or the name of one of their products can be an extremely valuable part of establishing an Internet presence.  When a dispute over a domain name occurs the parties can always turn to the courts.  While courts and judges have the authority to award control and ownership over domain names (just as they have authority to award control and ownership over any other property), the judicial process is notoriously slow.

Consequently, many parties have avoided the courts and turned to the domain name dispute policies of the domain name registrars.  The best alternative to pursuing a domain name dispute through the courts is to take advantage of the domain name dispute policies that have been developed by the organisations that assign domain names which is the focus of this course.  The course focuses on the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP”) which has been adopted by ICANN-accredited registrars in all gTLDs (.aero, .asia, .biz, .cat, .com, .coop, .info, .jobs, .mobi, .museum, .name, .net, .org, .pro, .tel and .travel).  The UDRP is a policy between a registrar and its customer and is included in registration agreements for all ICANN-accredited registrars.

At the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• Critically evaluate ongoing developments in law relating to information technologies;
• Display an understanding of how these developments relate to one another;
• Examine applicable principles to internet domain name disputes;
• Understand the role of the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC);
• Understand the role of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC);
• Evaluate those rules and theories in terms of internal coherence and practical outcomes;
• Draw on the analysis and evaluation contained in primary and secondary sources.

• Online infringements and domain name dispute resolution
• The Three Elements - Identity and confusing similarity
• The Three Elements - Legitimate rights of the respondent
• The Three Elements - Bad faith
• Practical guide on preparing submissions and deciding domain name disputes