CPD Course:
Internet Domain Names
Disputes:
Principles and Practice

Dr. Julien Chaisse currently serves as professor at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), School of Law.  He is an award-winning and world-renowned expert on international economic law (trade, investment, and tax), cyberlaw, and international dispute resolution.  His work has garnered wide academic recognition and has been cited by international courts/tribunals as well as the U.S. Courts.  He is the awardee of the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (2021) and the recipient of the Smit-Lowenfeld Prize from the International Arbitration Club of New York (2020).  He also sits on the editorial boards of several high impact academic journals, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Asia Pacific Law Review.

Dr. Chaisse is an accomplished senior arbitrator.  Numbers of his adjudications have been reported by local and international press.  He is frequently called upon as an expert witness in international trade/investment litigation and arbitration, to advise international organizations, governments, law firms, and private investors on private/public international law issues (e.g., concessions contracts, special economic zones, investment structuring, state and international organization immunities, and WTO accession), and he has assisted over twenty jurisdictions in drafting trade/investment treaties and legislation.

Dr. Chaisse is currently President and Chair of the Asia Pacific FDI Network (APFN), which is the most important organization in the region that focuses on researching foreign direct investment and facilitating cooperation among over 100 scholars and 50 institutions.  He has extensive experience working as a corporate board member, and serving on the board of directors/advisory board for a number of international organizations, including the World Free Zone Convention (WFZC), the Academy of International Dispute Resolution & Professional Negotiation (AIDRN), the National Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), and the Asian Academy of International Law (AAIL).  In addition, Dr. Chaisse is an active member of the World Economic Forum (“Tax and Globalization Working Group” and “Data Policy Platform”), a member of the Hong Kong’s Government Board of Review (Inland Revenue Ordinance), an advisor and partner to the United Nations ARTNET on FDI, and a member of the Academic Forum on Investor-state Dispute Settlement.  He also serves as Director of the Dot Trademark Policy Committee (DTPC), a co-founder of the Internet Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), and is a member of the ICANN’s Working Group, which produced the Report of the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs, among other highly-regarded white papers.

Prior to joining CityU Law School, Dr. Chaisse taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law (2009-2019) where he served as Director of one the Faculty’s research centres as well as Director of PhD & MPhil Program.  Before moving to Hong Kong, he worked as deputy head of the working group on the rules and regulations for multilateral trade and investment agreements at the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland (2006-2009), as a lecturer at Elite School Sciences Po Aix in France (2004-2006), and as a diplomat for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France at the French Embassy in New Delhi, India (2001-2004).

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