Unregistered rights

A complainant in domain name proceedings may be able to rely upon unregistered rights in a name or mark, as well as registered trade mark rights.

Third party resources

What are Unregistered Rights? - An extremely useful 2002 survey of unregistered rights across the European Union from UK law firm Wragge & Co. The survey covers rights highly relevant to domain name proceedings (such as unregistered trade mark rights) as well as rights which are less relevant (such as copyright).

Passing Off Introduction - A summary of the English-law tort of passing off, from the UK government intellectual property site at www.intellectual-property.gov.uk.

Passing Off and Domain Names - Use of Similar or Identical Domain Name by Competitor - An article by Simon Halberstam of London law firm Sprecher Grier Halberstam LLP looking at the use of passing off proceedings in the context of domain names.