Plain-English definitions of domain name dispute terms — cybersquatting, bad faith, the three elements, and how the INDRP for .in domains differs from ICANN's UDRP.
A
Administrative Panel
The one or three panellists appointed by the provider to decide a UDRP complaint. A single panellist is the default; either party may elect a three-member panel on payment of the higher fee.
Arbitrator
Under the INDRP the dispute is decided by a sole arbitrator appointed by NIXI from its panel. This is a real arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — which is what makes an INDRP award challengeable under Section 34, unlike a UDRP decision.
B
Bad Faith
The third element a complainant must prove. The classic indicators are registering to sell the domain to the brand owner at a profit, a pattern of blocking registrations, disrupting a competitor's business, or using the domain to attract traffic by creating confusion. Concealing the registrant's identity and parking the domain on pay-per-click ads are frequently treated as supporting evidence.
C
ccTLD
A country-code top-level domain such as .in, .uk or .lk. Each country sets its own dispute policy — India's is the INDRP — and the UDRP applies only where the country has adopted it.
Complainant
The party bringing the domain dispute, who must establish all three elements of the policy to obtain a transfer or cancellation.
Confusingly Similar
The first element: the disputed domain must be identical or confusingly similar to a mark in which the complainant has rights. The comparison ignores the top-level suffix, and typosquatting variants are routinely found confusingly similar.
Cybersquatting
Registering a domain containing someone else's mark in order to profit from it — by resale, by diverting traffic, or by blocking the owner. It is the conduct both the UDRP and the INDRP were written to address.
D
Domain Name
The address by which a website is reached. It is contractual, not proprietary — a registration is a licence from a registrar — but Indian courts have long treated a domain used in trade as capable of protection like a trademark.
G
gTLD
A generic top-level domain such as .com, .net, .org or a newer string like .app or .shop. Disputes over gTLDs are decided under the UDRP.
I
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which coordinates the domain name system and adopted the UDRP in 1999. Accredited registrars are contractually bound to implement UDRP decisions.
INDRP
The .IN Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, adopted by NIXI for .in and .भारत domains. It mirrors the UDRP's three elements but is administered as an arbitration, with the award enforceable and challengeable under Indian arbitration law.
INDRP Rules of Procedure
The rules governing an INDRP complaint — electronic filing of the complaint and power of attorney, e-payment of fees, word and page limits, and requirements for service on the registrant.
L
Legitimate Interest
The second element, which the complainant must show the registrant lacks. A registrant may establish it by bona fide use of the domain in offering goods before notice of the dispute, by being commonly known by the name, or by legitimate non-commercial or fair use.
M
Mutual Jurisdiction
The jurisdiction to which the complainant submits for any court challenge to a UDRP decision — either the registrar's location or the registrant's address as shown in WHOIS. Naming it is a requirement of the complaint.
N
NIXI
The National Internet Exchange of India, which operates the .IN Registry and administers the INDRP, appointing arbitrators from its panel.
P
Panellist
The neutral deciding a UDRP complaint, drawn from a provider's list. Panellists apply the policy and the accumulated body of decisions, though there is no formal doctrine of precedent.
Parked Domain
A domain resolving to a holding page, usually of pay-per-click advertising. Parking a domain that reproduces a trademark is regularly treated as evidence of bad faith, since it monetises the mark's pull.
Passive Holding
Holding a domain without any active website. Since the Telstra decision, panels have accepted that inactivity does not save a registrant where the mark is well known and no plausible good-faith use exists.
R
Registrant
The person or entity in whose name the domain is registered — the respondent in a dispute. Registrants are bound by the policy through their registration agreement.
Registrar
The entity through which a domain is registered, and which implements a transfer or cancellation once a decision becomes final.
Registry
The operator of a top-level domain, maintaining the authoritative database of registrations. NIXI is the registry for .in.
Remedies
Transfer of the domain to the complainant, or cancellation. Neither the UDRP nor the INDRP awards damages — a complainant seeking compensation must go to court, as Adobe and Colgate have in Indian domain fraud cases.
Response
The registrant's answer to the complaint, due within the period set by the policy. Failure to respond does not hand the complainant an automatic win — the elements must still be made out — but panels may draw adverse inferences.
Reverse Domain Name Hijacking
Use of the policy in bad faith to try to take a domain from its rightful holder. A finding of RDNH is a formal rebuke to the complainant, though it carries no monetary penalty.
S
Sunrise Period
The phase before a new top-level domain opens to the public, in which trademark owners may register domains matching their marks, usually through the Trademark Clearinghouse.
T
Three Elements
The cumulative test under both policies: the domain is identical or confusingly similar to a mark in which the complainant has rights; the registrant has no rights or legitimate interests; and the domain was registered and is being used in bad faith. All three must be proved.
Trademark Clearinghouse
The central database of verified trademark records used across new gTLDs to support sunrise registrations and to notify brand owners when a matching domain is registered.
Transfer
The remedy moving the domain from the registrant to the complainant. Under the UDRP the registrar implements it after ten business days, unless court proceedings are commenced in the mutual jurisdiction.
Typosquatting
Registering deliberate misspellings of a brand — a doubled letter, a dropped character, a swapped suffix — to catch mistyped traffic. Panels treat it as strong evidence of both confusing similarity and bad faith.
U
UDRP
The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, adopted by ICANN in 1999 and binding on registrants of .com and other gTLDs through their registration agreements. It is an administrative proceeding, not arbitration, and does not oust the courts.
UDRP Provider
An ICANN-approved dispute resolution service that administers complaints and appoints panellists — WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Center being the most used.
W
WHOIS
The public record of registration data for a domain. Privacy and proxy services, and data-protection driven redaction, have made registrant identification harder, so complaints are often filed against a proxy and amended once the registrar discloses the underlying registrant.
WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
The best known UDRP provider, which has decided the majority of domain disputes and publishes its decisions and the consensus views drawn from them.
