India is
embarking on a major review of the Information Technology Act which was passed
with effect from October 17, 2000. Recent frauds of the Delhi MMS case and
Gurgaon BPO Cases have increased the demand from the media for "Stricter IT
Laws". In this scenario, Naavi.org is presenting a series of suggestions for
the consideration of the MCIT while addressing the amendments and request
comments from the public so that the Ministry will have the benefit of an
opportunity to consider the public views in this regard.
Suggestion
II: Cyber Squatting:
“Cyber Squatting” is
related to “Trade Mark Rights”. Further, any law passed on “Cyber Squatting”
in India will interfere with the “Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy” which is
a contractual obligation to which all domain name registrants are presently
subjected to. It will also affect the rights of Indians who have to face
charges of “Squatting” in respect of international generic domain names such
as dot com, dot org etc.
Any law attempted here should
therefore be such as not to unduly create a harassment of Indian Citizens.
It is suggested that a
Section may be introduced in Chapter IX to the following effect:
(PQ)Whoever, in bad faith and
with the intention
to cause disrepute, harm to
another person or
cause
disruption of any legitimate business or
cause
confusion in the minds of the public, who having regard to the circumstances,
are likely to be influenced
registers a domain name
shall be liable to pay
damages to the person so affected not exceeding Rs 10 lakhs
and for the purpose of this
section, a person not being a resident of or a citizen of India shall also be
liable even if no computer or computer system located in India is used for the
contravention.
Explanation:
For
the purpose of this section exercising of due diligence including appropriate
disclosures shall be considered as indications of lack of bad faith.
(Comments
welcome)
Naavi
July 5, 2005
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