Cybersquatting: Legal Framework, Judicial Response and Emerging Challenges in The Regulation of Domain Name Abuse

Author(s)	Ashwin Yadav, Bharti Yadav
Country	India
Abstract	Domain names have evolved from mere technical addresses into valuable commercial identifiers, a transformation that has, since the mid-1990s, given rise to the practice known as cybersquatting: the bad-faith registration of internet domain names identical or confusingly similar to the trademarks, service marks or names of others, undertaken with intent to profit from the goodwill attached to those marks. This paper examines the conceptual contours and typology of cybersquatting, surveys the international legal response embodied in the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and the United States’ Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, and analyses how Indian courts, in the absence of dedicated domestic legislation, have extended trademark and passing-off principles to protect domain names, from Yahoo!, Inc. v. Akash Arora to the Supreme Court’s decision in Satyam Infoway Ltd. v. Sifynet Solutions Pvt. Ltd. The paper further evaluates the .IN Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy administered by the National Internet Exchange of India, identifies persisting gaps in the Indian regulatory framework, and concludes with recommendations for reform.
Keywords	Cybersquatting; Domain Names; Trademark Law; Passing Off; UDRP; INDRP; Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On	2026-08-05

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