Cybersquatting is registering a domain name that copies someone else's trademark, in bad faith. The UDRP, which ICANN adopted on 26 August 1999 from a WIPO study, lets a trademark owner win such a domain back without a lawsuit. It covers .com and other generic domains, but not Nepal's .np.
Key takeaways
- The UDRP grew out of a WIPO consultation that began in July 1998 and reported on 30 April 1999.
- A complainant must prove three elements: a confusing domain, no legitimate interest, and bad faith.
- A panel can only transfer or cancel the domain. It cannot award money.
- The first WIPO case was filed on 2 December 1999 and decided on 14 January 2000.
- The .np registry does not use the UDRP; its own terms and Nepal's courts decide disputes.
- A trademark registered at the Department of Industry is the strongest evidence a Nepali brand can bring.
What is cybersquatting?
Cybersquatting means taking a domain that matches or imitates a brand so you can profit from it. The squatter may offer to sell it to the owner, park adverts on it, divert customers to a rival, or pose as the brand to collect payments.
Holding a similar domain is not wrong in itself. A person may share the name, run a real business under it, or host a fan or criticism page. What matters is why the domain was taken and how it is used.
Where did the UDRP come from?
By 1998, owners facing squatters usually had to find the registrant, pick a country and sue there. WIPO opened a consultation on 8 July 1998, held seventeen meetings in fifteen cities, and received written submissions from 334 governments, organisations, companies and individuals.
Its final report of 30 April 1999 recommended a mandatory procedure limited to bad-faith, abusive registrations, which it called cybersquatting. ICANN adopted the policy on 26 August 1999 and approved its implementing documents on 24 October 1999.
What was the first UDRP case?
World Wrestling Federation Entertainment v. Michael Bosman, WIPO case D99-0001. The complaint reached WIPO on 2 December 1999. The respondent had registered worldwrestlingfederation.com on 7 October 1999 and offered to sell it to the federation three days later.
The panel found all three elements and, on 14 January 2000, ordered the domain transferred. The whole case took about six weeks. Read the decision through WIPO's domain name dispute pages.
What must a complainant prove under the UDRP?
Paragraph 4(a) of the policy lists three elements, and the complainant must prove each one. Losing any one loses the case, however similar the domain looks.
The policy also gives examples. Bad faith includes buying a domain mainly to sell it to the mark owner for more than its costs, a pattern of blocking owners, disrupting a competitor, or luring users for gain by causing confusion.
The registrant, in turn, shows legitimate interest through a genuine earlier business, being commonly known by the name, or fair non-commercial use.
How do panels read a disputed domain?
WIPO's published overview of panel views explains the habits. The ending, such as .com, is treated as a registration requirement and ignored when comparing the domain with the mark. An obvious misspelling, the trick called typosquatting, is still confusingly similar.
A blank or "coming soon" page does not protect a squatter. Under the passive-holding doctrine, recognised since early cases such as Telstra v. Nuclear Marshmallows (D2000-0003), panels weigh the mark's reputation, a missing response, false contact details and whether any good-faith use is plausible.
Rights need not be registered: WIPO accepts an owner of an "adequately pled unregistered" mark. A registered mark is far easier to prove, though, and a missing response does not win the case automatically.
What happens in a UDRP case, step by step?
The complainant picks one of five ICANN-approved providers: the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre, the Canadian International Internet Dispute Resolution Centre, the Czech Arbitration Court, FORUM, or the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. The complainant pays the provider's fees unless the respondent asks for three panellists, when the fees are split.
The case is decided on paper. WIPO says a case without procedural problems should normally finish within two months of receiving the complaint.
What can a UDRP panel order?
Only two things. Paragraph 4(i) limits the remedies to cancelling the domain or transferring it to the complainant. WIPO confirms a panel cannot award money or lawyers' costs.
A panel can also do the reverse: declare that a complaint was brought in bad faith, which WIPO calls reverse domain name hijacking. Either side may still go to court. After a transfer order, the registrar waits ten business days, and proof of a lawsuit filed in that time puts the order on hold.
How many domain disputes reach WIPO?
WIPO is the best-known provider and publishes its own count. Its cases-per-year page shows 1 case in 1999, 1,857 in 2000 and 6,282 in 2025, with more than 85,000 in total by October 2026.
Yearly filings passed 3,600 in 2019 and have risen in most years since. A short history of WIPO itself is in our guide to WIPO and Nepal's membership.
Does the UDRP cover .np domains?
No, as far as we can find. ICANN's policy page says the UDRP binds all ICANN-accredited registrars, and also "certain managers" of country-code domains. WIPO lists the country codes that adopted it, such as .cy for Cyprus and .pk for Pakistan, and others that use a variation. On 17 October 2026, .np was on neither list.
Nepal's domains are run by Mercantile Communication Pvt. Ltd. through register.com.np; its terms call the registry MOS-NP. It registers names first come, first served, and asks that a company's domain match its name, product, service or brand.
How are .np domain disputes settled?
Through the registry's terms and conditions, which state that registering a domain "does not confer any legal rights to that name". Disputes are left to the parties and "normal legal methods".
One rule gives a brand owner a real opening. The registry may transfer a domain to a claimant whose trade name, trademark or company name was registered with the Government of Nepal at least one year before the domain. A court decision in Nepal, if sought, is final.
The terms add that a trade-name claim is valid only if it is registered with an official office in Nepal, so a foreign registration alone will not do.
We found no published UDRP-style procedure for .np, so treat the route as a question for an advocate.
| Question | UDRP (.com and other generic domains) | .np registry terms | Court action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who decides | A panel from an approved provider | The registry, MOS-NP | A court with jurisdiction |
| What you show | All three elements of paragraph 4(a) | A trade name, trademark or company name registered in Nepal a year before the domain | Whatever the claim requires |
| Possible result | Transfer or cancellation | The registry may transfer the domain | Depends on the claim and the law |
| Money awarded? | No | Not in the terms | Possible, subject to law |
| Last word | A court, under paragraph 4(k). | A Nepal court | Higher courts on appeal |
Where does Nepal's trademark law fit?
Nepal's Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 never mentions domain names. Under Sec. 16(1), title to a mark comes upon registration at the Department of Industry.
Sec. 16(2) then bars others from copying or using a registered mark without permission. Sec. 19 backs that with a fine and confiscation of goods, on the Department's orders.
Whether a domain counts as "use" of a mark under Sec. 16(2) is not answered by the Act, so ask an advocate before relying on it. The text is on the Nepal Law Commission site, and a wider clash between two local brands is covered in how Nepali brand disputes are resolved.
What the Act clearly gives you is evidence. A registration certificate proves the mark, its owner, its class and its date, and the first-to-file principle generally applies, so the earlier complete application usually wins.
What do Nepal's published marks show about domain brands?
Some Nepali businesses register the domain itself as their brand. Counting Bulletin entries whose mark name contains ".COM", ".NP" or "DOT COM", IP Sewa found 54 of the 71,842 published marks, from YAKMANDOO.COM in October 2006 to NEPALPRESS.COM in August 2026.
Of the 54, 22 are in Class 35 (advertising and business services), 10 in Class 39 (transport and travel) and 7 in Class 42. 44 give a Nepal address, 33 were published from 2018 on, and only one contains ".NP". These are published marks, not proof of registration, and you can look any of them up in our trademark search.
Whether a name like that can be protected is covered in our guide on trademarking a domain name in Nepal.
How can you check a name before buying the domain?
IP Sewa's domain and trademark checker runs two checks at once. It searches the 71,500+ marks published in DoI bulletins, and it asks the public RDAP service whether the .com, .net, .org, .io and .co versions are taken.
It cannot check .com.np, because the .np registry offers no RDAP lookup; it tells you to check register.com.np instead. For a closer screen, use the trademark conflict checker and the NICE class finder, since each NICE classification class needs its own application.
Our guide to checking name availability in Nepal walks through each step. A free result is a lead, not clearance, and our trademark search and clearance team gives a written opinion.
What should you do if someone squats your brand?
- Save the evidence. Screenshot the site, the domain record and any sale offer, with dates.
- Check the ending. A generic domain points to the UDRP; a .np domain points to the registry's terms.
- Confirm your rights. Find your DoI certificate, class, owner name and renewal dates.
- Look for an innocent explanation. A shared name, a reseller or a fan page may be legitimate.
- Pick the route. Choose a complaint, a registry claim, negotiation or court, by the remedy you need.
- Build the file. Set out each element with dated proof before you send anything.
A demand letter can tip off a squatter, who may move the domain. Our opposition and enforcement team can plan the order of steps with you.
Common mistakes: what weakens a domain complaint?
- Treating every similar domain as bad faith. A real business or a shared name can defeat the claim.
- Relying on a company name. A company registration is not a trademark; see protecting a business name in Nepal.
- Asking a panel for money. It can only transfer or cancel.
- Filing a UDRP case over a .np domain. The registry has its own rules.
- Letting the mark lapse. A Nepali trademark runs seven years from registration and is renewable for further seven-year terms, filed within 35 days after expiry; a lapsed mark is weak evidence.
What could a squatting case look like for a Nepali brand?
Here is an illustration, not a real case. "Phewa Leaf Tea" holds a DoI registration in Class 30 from 2019. In 2025 it finds phewaleaftea.com showing rival tea adverts, and an email offering the domain at a high price.
The .com points to the UDRP, and the sale offer fits the first example of bad faith in the policy. If a stranger had registered phewaleaftea.com.np in 2025 instead, the brand would rely on the registry's one-year rule, since its mark is six years older.
In short
The UDRP turned a cross-border lawsuit into a paper case decided in weeks, but only for domains whose registry adopted it. Nepal's .np follows its own terms. Either way, a trademark registered in Nepal, renewed on time, is the evidence that carries a claim.
New marks still face the Industrial Property Bulletin and its 90-day opposition window before registration, so file early. Nepal is outside the Madrid System, so a foreign owner files directly at the DoI, usually through an agent holding a power of attorney, and may claim Paris Convention priority.
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Want the brand behind your domain protected? Start with our trademark registration service, or contact IP Sewa about a domain you think was taken in bad faith.
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