· Area of Law： Civil Law Domain Name

· Level of Authority： Judicial Interpretation

· Date issued：07-17-2001

· Effective Date：07-24-2001

· Issuing Authority： Supreme People's Court

· Status： Effective

Announcement of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China
The Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Application of Laws in the Trial of Civil Disputes over Domain Names of Computer Network has been adopted at the 1182nd meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on June 26, 2001, and is hereby promulgated and shall come into force on July 24, 2001.
July 17, 2001
Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Application of Laws in the Trial of Civil Disputes Over Domain Names of Computer Network
(Adopted at the 1182nd meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on June 26, 2001 No.24 [2001] of the Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court)
In order to correctly try the civil disputes concerning the acts of the registration, and use of computer network domain name, etc (hereinafter referred to as disputes over domain name), the following interpretations are issued according to provisions of the General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the General Principles of Civil Law), theLaw of the People's Republic of China on Anti-Unfair Competition (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Anti-Unfair Competition), the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Procedure Law):
Article 1 When the party concerned brings an action to the people's court of the disputes over the acts of the registration, and use of computer network domain name, etc, if the action is proved to comply with the provisions of Article 108 of the Civil Procedure Law after examination, the people's court shall accept the action.
Article 2 The case of dispute over domain name infringement shall be ruled by the intermediate people's court of the place where the infringement act is committed or the place of domicile of the defendant. If the place where the infringement act is committed or the place of domicile of the defendant is hard to determine, the place where the computer terminal or other equipments by which the plaintiff found that domain name, are located may be regarded as the place where the infringement act is committed.
Cases of disputes over domain name involving foreign elements include the cases of disputes over domain name in which one or both of the parties are foreigners, stateless persons, foreign enterprises or organizations, international organizations, or the domain name is registered in foreign countries. The jurisdiction of the cases of disputes over domain name involving foreign elements taking place within the territory of the People's Republic of China shall be determined according to the provisions of Chapter 4 of the Civil Procedure Law.
Article 3 The cause of the case of dispute over domain name shall be determined by the nature of the legal relation of the dispute between the two parties concerned, and the domain name of computer network shall be added at the beginning; if the nature of the legal relation of the dispute is hard to determine, it can be generally called the case of dispute over domain name of computer network.
Article 4 When trying cases of dispute over domain name of computer network, the people's court shall come to the conclusion that the acts of the defendant of registering or using the domain name, etc constitute infringement or unfair competition if the following conditions are met:
1) the civil rights and interests that the plaintiff asked for protection are legal and valid;
2) the domain name or the main part of the domain name of the defendant has constituted duplication, imitation, translation or transliteration of the well-known trademark of the plaintiff; or is the same as or similar to the registered trademark of the plaintiff so that the public may take it for the registered trademark of the plaintiff by mistake;
3) the defendant doesn't enjoy rights or interests of the said domain name or its main part, neither does he have proper reasons to register or use that domain name; and
4) the defendant is registering or using that domain name through malice.
Article 5 The people's court shall come to the conclusion that the defendant is malicious if the acts of the defendant are proved to be under any of the following circumstances:
1) registering the well-known trademark of others as domain name for commercial purposes;
2) registering or using the domain name which is the same as or similar to the registered trademark or domain name of the plaintiff for commercial purposes, intentionally causing confusion with the products, services provided by the plaintiff or with the website of the plaintiff, and misleading the network users to visit his website or other online sites;
3) having offered to sell or rent that domain name for high price or to transfer it by other means to get improper profits;
4) having not used or having not prepared to use the domain name after registration, and intentionally preventing the right owner from registering that domain name; and
5) other circumstances of malice.
If the defendant has adduced evidence to prove that the domain name he held has already been well-known before the dispute arises, and that the domain name can be distinguished from the registered trademark, domain name, etc of the plaintiff, or he is under other circumstances which can prove his innocence, the people's court may come to the conclusion that he is not malicious.
Article 6 When trying cases of disputes over domain name, the people's court may determine whether the involved registered trademark is well-known according to the request of the parties concerned and the specific circumstances of the case.
Article 7 When trying cases of dispute over domain name, the people's court shall apply the corresponding provisions of law to the circumstances complying with the provisions of Article 4 of this Interpretation that constitute infringement according to the relevant provisions of law; those that constitute unfair competition may apply the provisions of Article 4 of theGeneral Principles of Civil Law and the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Law on Anti-Unfair Competition.
The cases of disputes over domain name involving foreign elements shall be handled according to the relevant provisions of Chapter 8 of the General Principles of Civil Law.
Article 8 Where the people's court has determined that the acts of registering or using domain name, etc have constituted infringement or unfair competition, it can rule that the defendant should stop the infringement, write off the domain name, or rule that the plaintiff should register and use that domain name according to the request of the plaintiff; where actual damages are caused to the right owner, the people's court may rule that the defendant compensate the plaintiff for the losses.