Enforcing Trademark Rights in the Digital Age: International Complications

Intellectual property means any property intangible in nature which is a product of your intellect, including creativity, innovation, technology, and digital advancements such as Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Trademark Infringement Detection. Intellectual property rights include trademarks, patents, copyrights and other such allied rights. Trademarks are those signs, logos, designs and visual identity of some good or services which can be registered by the user. All these rights are protected by various legislations in India and around the World. However, the internet has adversely affected intellectual property. There are no tangible foundations in cyberspace like there are in the actual world. The most active phase of trademark infringement claims concerns domain name disputes in cyberspace. Domain names are visual identifiers of the business over virtual world and work similar to trademarks. Use of domain names on the internet transcends territorial jurisdiction which makes it necessary to mitigate the losses arising out of unregulated cyberspace. For successful filing and adjudication of the claim there need to be proper laws as to where the jurisdiction lies. There are various factors which determine the jurisdiction but lack of uniform applicability of legislation brings its own set of challenges to the disputed claims. The researchers have attempted to analyse the protection provided by law of trademark to domain names. Also, discussion has been made as to determination of jurisdiction in Indian as well as Foreign Courts regarding disputes of domain name infringement since cyberspace has no defined territorial limits and needs clarity for the businesses to flourish and rights to stay preserved.