Guide for rights holders
Is a domain name registered by a third party in a way that infringes your rights and you want to protect them?
Afnic provides this Guide for all rights holders, containing all the practical information needed to easily find your way around the domain name market. This guide is also available for free download on our website www.afnic.fr under “Dispute resolution”
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Summary
1) How to know if a domain name infringes your rights?
2) What to do if a domain name under the.fr TLD infringes your rights ?
3) Procedures and purposes
1) How to know if a domain name infringes your rights?
On its website Afnic provides a Whois database that you can use to check if there are any domain names under the .fr Top-Level Domain (or any one of the other TLDs managed by Afnic) that are liable to infringe any of your rights. Similarly, each day Afnic publishes the list of domain names registered under the .fr TLD for that day.
The Whois Database
This is the database for which Afnic collects from registrars all of the domain names registered under the .fr TLD (and the other TLDs managed by Afnic) and the identification data of the individual or corporate domain name registrants. By consulting the Whois database, free of charge, you can check the availability of a domain name, find those you have registered, or obtain:
- Administrative information on the registrant of the domain name and the various contacts (administrative, technical) associated with it;
- Technical information about the domain name itself;
The database can be accessed in two ways:
- Via the Afnic web interface in which queries are not fully automated;
- Via “Port 43”, which allows users to perform automated queries, the volume of which is subject to a limitation policy.
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The Afnic Extra Afnic has chosen to implement measures to limit the number of queries in order to prevent possible abuses in the use of personal information but also to ensure the quality of the service provided.Afnic may at any time filter access to its services, if malicious use is suspected. |
Users of the Whois database must refrain from any collection or misuse of the personal information to which they have access and generally, refrain from any act liable to infringe upon the privacy or reputation of individuals. To ensure this is the case, Afnic has implemented the security measures required to regulate the ways in which the data are used by processing operations that are fair, non-discriminatory, and proportionate to the aims of the database described in the
Afnic Naming Policy and in the policy governing the publication of, and access to information on domain name registrations.
The daily list of domain names
Under Article L.45-5 of the French Electronic Communications and Telecommunications Act (hereinafter referred to as the CPCE), Afnic publishes every day all the domain names that have been registered under each of the TLDs for which it is responsible. These daily updates are available for 7 days, free of charge, under the “.gif” format.
Monitoring Services
In order to check whether a domain name infringes your rights or not, various monitoring services are available, including the "Fr watch" service provided by Afnic.
This service allows you to monitor your brands and trademarks, identify the domain names that use them, and thus measure the amount of traffic you are losing. To set up this service, please contact your registrar.
Please note that every registrar accredited by the .fr can provide this service.
For further information, please visit our website section entitled "Products and services".
2) What to do if a domain name under the .fr TLD infringes your rights? ?
If you have identified a domain name under the .fr TDL (or one of the other TLDs managed by Afnic) that infringes any of your rights
– infringing your intellectual property rights, identity theft, fraud , etc.,
– Afnic provides a series of tools allowing you to reach an amicable solution with the registrant. Failing an amicable agreement, the only remaining means are judicial or extrajudicial proceedings.
How to obtain the contact details of a domain name registrant ?
As we saw above, the Whois database is the first reflex to find out whether the contact details of the registrant are available :
- If their contact details are available, we suggest you contact the domain name registrant in order to reach an amicable solution to your dispute;
- If the contact details are available on a “restricted information” basis, we provide an application form enabling you to request the disclosure of personal data, and, under certain under certain conditions, obtain the contact details of the domain name registrant.
The application form for the disclosure of personal data can be used to obtain the contact details of the domain name registrant if and only if the latter has used in identical
or almost identical fashion:
- The earlier trade mark registered and protected in France of which you are the registrant;
- The earlier distinctive signs(s) that you own (company name, business name,trade name, brand and domain name);
- The earlier title protected by French copyright that you own;
- Your family name or pseudonym.
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The Afnic Extra You can use the contact form to send a message to the administrative contact for the domain name, without knowing their contact details.Afnic is not informed of the content of the message and does not charge any fee for sending it. Afnic proceeds to transfer the message without checking its contents, whether the transfer is successful, the accuracy of the recipient’s address, or the identity of the issuer. There is no guarantee of a response from the administrative contact, or even any guarantee that the latter has received and/or read the message sent. The administrative contact is free to reply and to decide or not whether to transfer the e-mail to the registrant of the domain name if the administrative contact and registrant are two different people. |
Should Afnic refuse to lift the holder's anonymity, it is possible to file a new application, or file an application for a preliminary order before the ordinary courts (see below). On receipt of the order, Afnic will proceed to implement the order within two days.
What to do if the contact details obtained by Afnic do not allow you to contact the registrant
- Whois verification: Initiated upon receipt of the form without the provision of any documents in support. The verification process does not affect the registrant’s portfolio of domain names;
- Substantiation: A verification process indicating the registrant’s eligibility or reachability is unsatisfactory, or following a reasoned complaint from a third party via the verification form or even at its own initiative, Afnic contacts the registrar.
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The Afnic Extra By consulting the Whois database, it is possible to know the verification status of a domain name registrant. When the check has been successfully carried out, the field that has been checked is marked (as well as the date and originator of the check) in the Whois database. |
What to do if you have contacted the registrant but cannot obtain the latter's agreement
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The Afnic Extra Afnic is neither mandated nor qualified to provide legal advice. We invite you to obtain legal advice for help in dealing with the case.
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- liable to disrupt public order or morality, or the rights guaranteed by the French Constitution or French law; or
- liable to infringe your intellectual property or personal rights, and that the registrant has no right to bring action and is acting in bad faith; or
- identical or related to that of the French Republic, of a local authority or group of local authorities, of an institution or a local or national public service, and that the registrant has no right to bring action and is acting in bad faith.
There are two noteworthy differences between the Expert ADR and Syreli procedures:
- The costs and financial arrangements;
- The person analyzing the case files:
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The Afnic Extra Check ADR trendsbefore filing your case under one of our procedures to ensure that your case file is as complete as possible;
And keep track of our monthly analyses and figures on changes in ADR procedures with our Scope infographics.
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- Each application is assessed exclusively on the basis of the documents and deeds filed by both parties, and no further research is done by the people analyzing your file;
- Proceedings are conducted in French. if important documents are in another language, please provide an official translation.
What to do if the SYRELI OR ADR EXPERT DECISION is in your favor
The Registrant may bring the case before a court for a period of 15 days after the date of receipt of the Syreli or Adr Expert decision. After this deadline, and only in the case of the transfer of the domain name, you should contact the registrar of your choice, indicating the decision that is in your favor.
The registrar will then sign an Afnic Operation Request (DOA) and send it to Afnic in order to recover the disputed domain name.
If the decision requires the deletion of the domain name, you have nothing to do, Afnic will delete the domain name at the end of the 15-day period. The deleted domain name will then be available for registration on a first-come basis.
What to do if the Syreli or ADR Expert decision rendered by Afnic is not in your favor or does not apply to your case
If the Syreli or Expert ADR decision is not in your favor
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The Afnic Extra By carefully studying the ruling handed down, you can identify the reasons why your claim has been rejected.
Depending on your analysis, you may decide to file a new claim with new evidence in accordance with the terms of
the ADR Regulation (both ADR procedures are alternative and are mutually exclusive) or take the case to court |
The domain name in dispute does not fall within one of the cases listed in Article L.45-2 of the CPCE:
- If you have a dispute with an Internet professional or have been the victim of a scam, we advise you to contact the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), the authority for dealing with such situations.
- If you have been a victim of «Phishing», please visit the website of the Phishing Initiative Association: http://www.phishing-initiative.com/.
- If you have received spam, please visit the national platform for reporting SPAM in connection with the competent authorities: https://www.signal-spam.fr/.
- If you have been a victim of identity theft:
3) Procedures and purposes
Suspending a domain name
Definition
A domain name is suspended:
- When a court order suspending the domain name is notified to Afnic: the suspension is maintained in accordance with the provisions of the court order and is raised after a new ruling has been handed down;
- When an ADR procedure is initiated (see above): the suspension is maintained until the ruling is enforced
- When a verification procedure is initiated (see above): the suspension is maintained for a period of 7 days.
How to know if a domain name has been suspended?
Blocking a domain name
Definition
A domain name is blocked:
- When a court order ordering the blocking of the domain name is notified to Afnic: the blocking is maintained in accordance with the provisions of the court order and is raised after a new ruling has been handed down;
- When a verification procedure is in progress (see above): the blocking occurs after the suspension period and is maintained for a further period of maximum 30 days;
- When the domain name is an orphan (when no registrar is any longer in charge of the domain name).
How to know if a domain name has been blocked?
Deleting a domain name
Definition
A domain name is deleted
- When the deletion is requested by its registrar, in which case, deletion becomes irreversible once the redemption period of 30 days has elapsed. During the redemption period, the domain name can be reactivated with the same configuration;
- Further to a court decision ordering the deletion of the domain name and meeting the terms and conditions stipulated in the Naming Policy;
- Following a decision to delete the domain name taken as part of the ADR procedure (see above);
- Following an unsuccessful verification procedure (see above);
- Following an orphaned domain procedure (when no registrar is any longer in charge of the domain name).
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The Afnic Extra Under certain conditions, and to organizations that request it to do so, Afnic provides the list of domain names registered each day under the .fr TLD, together with the names of the registrars who have registered the domain names, and the names of the registrants that have registered the domain names (with the exception of individuals who opt for access to that information to be restricted).
More information on the SQUAW service (the French acronym for the Qualified Whois Data Access Service).
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