<h1>INTERNET LAW - .eu Top Level Domain Names and Public Policy Considerations</h1><a href="http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=2304">http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=2304</a><br>
<div class="articleButtons"> </div><em class="light">Martha L. Arias, IBLS Director<br>Wednesday, February 03, 2010</em><br><font size="2">
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif"><img alt="" src="http://www.ibls.com/ktmlstandard/images/uploads/22171015.jpg?0.9109266679554993" align="left" border="1" height="129" hspace="0" width="180"><img alt="" src="http://www.ibls.com/ktmlstandard/images/uploads/x1.gif?0.2914134022152188" align="left" border="0" height="131" hspace="0" width="10">A
Top Level Domain system that encompasses several geographical regions
requires careful consideration of domestic policies and legal
principles. Indeed, just as an economic regional agreement requires
consideration of each country''''''''''''''''s financial situation,
among others, sharing a Top Level Domain system requires the analysis
of the states'' public policies and legal principles. For instance,
the European Union''s Top Level Domain system, .eu, is subject to
community regulations that appropriately address the concerns of the
member states. This article provides information on public policy
considerations incorporated in the .eu Top Level Domain system
regulations, and an example of how these public policy considerations
triumph individual''s rights. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif">The
European Union (EU) regulates the .eu Top Level Domain system (TLDS)
through Regulation (EC) No. 733/2002 of the European Parliament and of
the Council of April 22, 2002, and implementing Regulation No.
874/2004. Two articles of Regulation 733/2002 particularly address
public policies regarding .eu TLDS. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif">Article 5
of Regulation 733/2002, a mandate to the Commission, states that the
implementation of .eu TLDS must include public policy principles on
registration. The following are the public policy considerations that
this regulation requires,</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif">"(a) an extra-judicial settlement of conflicts policy;</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif"> (b) public
policy on speculative and abusive registration of domain names
including the possibility of registrations of domain names in a phased
manner to ensure appropriate temporary opportunities for the holders of
prior rights recognized or established by national and/or Community law
and for public bodies to register their names;</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif"> (c) policy on possible revocation of domain names, including the question of <i>bona vacantia</i> ;</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif"> (d) issues of language and geographical concepts;</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif"> (e) treatment of intellectual property and other rights."</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif">The use of
geographical language and concepts is a sensitive issue when it comes
to registration of domain names. For this reason, Regulation 733/2002
particularly addresses this concern. For instance, this regulation
requires that member states notify to the Commission and other member
states a limited list of broadly-recognized geographical and/or
geopolitical names that affect their political or territorial
organization. The list included names that may either "(a) not be
registered, or (b) be registered only under a second level domain
according to the public policy rules." Then, the Commission shall
notify the Registry the list of notified names and publish the list.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif">Article 7
of Regulation No. 733/2002 introduces another public policy
consideration. It states that the Community will retain all rights
relating to the .eu TLDS. This includes intellectual property rights to
the Registry databases and the right to re-designate the Registry. This
is an extremely important public policy principle, fundamental to an
orderly administration of the TLDS.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif">Regulation
No. 874/2004 implemented Regulation 733/2002. The preamble to
Regulation No. 874/2004 introduces a policy consideration when it
states that the Commission is authorized to select domain names to be
used by the institutions of the Community, and to designate the
operator of those domain names. Also, the Registry is empowered to
reserve some domain names for its operational functions. Lastly, the
preamble states, member states are authorized to designate an operator
that will register as a domain name the country''''''''''''''''s
official name and the name under which it is commonly known. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif">In addition
to this policy consideration in the Regulation''s preamble, Regulation
No. 874/2004 incorporates mandates that directly address domestic legal
topics such as trademarks and copyrights, among others. Article 10(1)
of Regulation No 874/2004 introduced an extremely important public
policy principle for the .eu TLD States that "[H]olders of prior rights
recognized or established by national and/or Community law and public
bodies shall be eligible to apply to register domain names during a
period of phased registration before general registration of .eu domain
starts."Prior rights" shall be understood to include, inter alia,
registered national and community trademarks, geographical indications
or designations of origin, and, in as far as they are protected under
national law in the Member State where they are held: unregistered
trademarks, trade names, business identifiers, company names, family
names, and distinctive titles of protected literary and artistic works."</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif">The
Commission, through Decision 2002/375/EC of May 21, 2003, designated
the European Registry for Internet Domains (EURid) as the non-profit
agency in charge of managing .eu TLDS. EURid is incorporated under the
laws of Belgium. <i>Galileo Lebensmittel GmbH & Co v. the Commission of the European Communities</i>, <b>2009 ECJ EUR-Lex LEXIS 138, is a</b>n interesting case involving a EURid decision and the .eu TLDS regulations.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Times New Roman,Times,serif"><i>Galileo Lebensmittel GmbH & Co </i>is a company that holds several trademarks, including the word mark <i>Galileo</i>
registered with the German Patent and Trademark Office. Galileo applied
to EURid for the registration of the domain name Galileo.eu. EURid
denied the application because the Commission had reserved this domain
name for its institutions and bodies, as authorized by Regulation No.
874/2004. Galileo then brought an action for annulment of the
Commission''s decision to reserve the domain name Galileo.eu for its
institutions and bodies. The court of first instance denied Galileo''s
claim. Galileo appealed before European Court of Justice (ECJ). The
ECJ confirmed the court of first instance and, after the analysis of
several legal issues, held that "an individual to whom a Commission
decision is not of direct and individual concern and whose interests
are therefore unaffected by that measure cannot invoke the right to
judicial protection in relation to that decision." In other words, the
ECJ considered that Galileo was not entitled to judicial protection in
regards to the Commission''s decision to reserve Galileo.eu for its
operations because that decision was not of direct or individual
concern. Public policy and the Commission''s rights to reserve domain
names triumph the prior rights principle established by Regulation No.
874/2004. </font></p></font><br>