On September 20th, 2023, it was published in the International Trademark Association (INTA) Bulletin the article written by our partner Celia Lerman, on the new guidelines of the Network Information Center (NIC) Argentina for the resolution of domain name disputes.

Through Regulation 187/2023 (the Regulation) NIC Argentina approved the first regulation establishing specific criteria for these disputes. Previously, such disputes were subject only to the general criteria included in NIC Argentina’s general Regulation for the Administration of Internet Domains (Resolution 2/2022, which establishes that any user that considers itself to have a “better right or legitimate interest regarding the ownership of a domain name” may dispute the domain name’s registration.

The objectives of the Regulation are (1) to improve the efficiency and transparency of dispute resolution procedures by establishing criteria regarding bad-faith registration of and/or use of domain names; and (2) to generate full awareness of good domain name registration practices.

Under the new Regulation, NIC Argentina will deem that a domain name has been registered and/or used in an abusive or bad-faith manner and, therefore, may be subject to revocation when one or more of the following criteria are satisfied:

1. It lends itself to confusion, deception, and/or impersonation in relation to a registered trademark that is well-known and/or recognized; to copyrights; to a trade name; to a corporate name; to a proper name or pseudonym of a prominent human person in Argentina or in the world; or to any other subjective right;
2. It is offered for sale or it is aimed at an undue economic gain, contrary to good commercial practices;
3. It blocks the Internet access of another user, and/or it intentionally disturbs either the user’s commercial or personal non-profit activities; The sole purpose of the registration is to collect (accumulate) domains without a real use or without any demonstrable or verifiable legitimate interest in doing so;
4. It was not delegated to a DNS (Domain Name System) server within a reasonable period (the first six months of registration) or the lack of delegation was not properly grounded;
5. Its owner could not demonstrate its connection with real digital activity, whether commercial or personal not-for-profit;
6. It uses generic words and is not used in direct relation with its dictionary meaning;
7. The registrant’s intention was to divert customers, audiences, or Internet (web) traffic illegitimately to another site (or domain);
8. It uses words or phrases that are offensive, discriminatory, and/or contrary to the law; or
9. It lends itself to confusion with, or deceit and/or impersonation of, national, provincial, municipal, and the City of Buenos Aires’ government entities, or to any of the services provided by them, or by recognized national and international organizations.

The Resolution went into effect on June 1, 2023.