Scope of the study, methodology and limitations

• Author: Paulovics, Ivett
• Pages: 12-14

STUDY ON EVALUATION OF PRACTICES FOR COMBATING SPECULATIVE AND ABUSIVE DOMAIN NAME

REGISTRATIONS

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3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY, METHODOLOGY AND LIMITATIONS

3.1 Scope of the Study

The Study aims to assess the .eu Registry’s practices in tackling speculative and abusive

registrations under the .eu TLD and to inform policy-makers on effective policies in fighting

such registrations.29

First, the Study shall evaluate the ongoing cooperation among EURid, EUIPO and other

European Union agencies in this field (specifically Europol), and whether and how their

ongoing cooperation could be improved. The Study further investigates the cooperation

with other EU agencies in this field and/or whether any ought to be established.

Secondly, the Study shall assess the .eu registration procedure and other administrative

procedures of the .eu Registry with a view to finding whether a simplification is needed to

facilitate the registration of domain names and to avoid speculative and abusive

registrations, in particular with regards to SMEs. In order to do so, the Study compares the

.eu Registry’s procedures with the those of identified European r egistry operators (.be,

.dk, .hu, .it, .uk).

Then the Study also compares and assesses the ADR mechanisms available under .eu

and the above-mentioned ccTLDs.

Based on the outcome of the assessment, the Study shall identify the areas where the .eu

Registry’s practices need to be improved and where the collaboration with EUIPO,

Europol and other EU agencies is to be strengthened or further developed and which

practices ought to be enhanced or introduced to contribute to reducing speculative and

abusive domain name registrations under the .eu TLD and to maintain a secure,

transparent and trustworthy .eu online environment.

3.2 Methodology

The methodology used consisted in an extensive literary review of relevant industry

reports and gathering and analysing of data, information and documents from multiple

stakeholders.

The following stakeholders were interviewed through in-person meetings,

videoconferences, phone calls or surveys: the .eu Registry – EURid, EUIPO, Europol,

ccTLD Registries (DNS Belgium for .be, DK Hostmaster for .dk, Council of Hungarian

Internet Providers – ISZT for .hu, Institute of Informatics and Telematics of the National

Council of Researches – Registro .it for .it, Nominet for .uk), European ccTLD Registries’

associations (Council of European Top-Level Registries – CENTR), registrars (Register .it,

Safebrands, IP Twins, Com Laude - Valideus), rightsholders’ associations and networks

(European Brands Association – AIM, Organization for an International Geographical

Indications Network – oriGIn, European IPR Helpdesk), practitioners with expertise in

intellectual property law and domain names and domain name Panellists in gTLD and

ccTLD disputes, companies specialised in brand protection (Safebrands, IP Twins),

associations of representatives of rightsholders (European Communities Trade Mark

Association – ECTA, Marques), ADR providers (Czech Arbitration Court – CAC for .eu,

World Intellectual Property Office – WIPO for .eu, Belgian Centre for Arbitration and

29 Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2019/517