DMCA, Copyright & Trademark Complaints Reporting Process
The article outlines the reporting process for DMCA, copyright, and trademark complaints. It clarifies the limited role of a domain name registrar, such as Trustname, in handling intellectual property violations, distinguishing between infringement in website content and domain names. The guide provides specific steps for users, directing them to the most effective parties to contact and detailing Trustname's protocol for handling formal complaints.
Key Takeaways
- Contact the Web Host First – For copyright or trademark infringement within a website's content, the most effective action is to contact the web hosting or publishing provider first, as your hosting provider have direct control and specialized tools to address the issue.
- Registrar's Limited Authority – A domain registrar is generally a poor venue for content-related complaints because the domain registrar does not control the hosted content. Your domain registrar are primarily responsible for the domain name itself and can only take action in response to valid court orders or formal ICANN dispute resolutions.
- Domain Name Infringement Process – If a domain name infringes upon a trademark, Trustname recommends seeking resolution through ICANN's UDRP or URS processes. As ICANN will comply with orders from these arbitration bodies.
- Formal Requirements for Complaints – To submit a complaint to Trustname, you must provide evidence of being the trademark holder, a reference to the relevant law, and an official DMCA takedown notice or a formal notice of trademark infringement.
- No Guarantee of Outcome – Trustname cannot guarantee any particular outcome from a complaint. We will review it and add it to their internal database, but you will not receive updates.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Definition
This cluster of violations includes infringement upon any intellectual property rights (copyright, trademark, or patent). The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is a US law that, among other things, addresses online copyright infringement in particular.
Your Action Plan
- Submit a report to the domain name registrant (owner). Alternatively, you may pursue the matter in a U.S. court of competent jurisdiction. You can contact them using the information you find by performing a Whois lookup on the Registrar’s website or via a generic service; this may be a link to a contact form, or their email address. Look for a line that starts with "Registrant Email". If they are using our (WHOISPPS), you can use the . Please note that we have no control over the content of websites hosted on domains registered with us or any of our registrars.
- When dealing with Copyright or Trademark Infringement, the web hosting or publishing provider should always be engaged before contacting the registrar because they have specialized tools and granular access to address the abuse occurring on their systems, as well as a direct relationship with the users of their services.
Trademark or Copyright Infringement in Website Content
According to the , registrars are generally a poor venue for a trademark infringement complaint regarding website content because they typically do not provide or control the hosted content (unless the registrar is also the hosting provider) and thus cannot target specific content on a website; instead, the complainant should contact the web host or otherwise follow legal due process.
If we cannot determine what abuse is taking place, cannot verify or confirm the abuse, or if the activities fall outside the registrar’s abuse policy, Trustname will be unlikely to take action.
Trademark or Copyright Infringement in Domain Names
In the case of a trademarked domain name (if you are the holder of a trademark or someone related to this trademark and your trademark is infringed upon via a domain name registered with us), we recommend that you seek resolution through the UDRP or URS by. When a trademark infringement complaint is sent to the registrar of record outside of the UDRP process, we will, in most cases, direct the complainant to file a UDRP complaint.
Main UDRP Bodies
The Uniform Rapid Suspension ("URS") process offers a less expensive and faster path to relief for trademark owners with clear-cut cases of infringement. While registrars generally do not participate in the URS process, we are aware of it. We may recommend that a complainant use the URS process to report a domain that is infringing.
We will comply with the requirements of ICANN rules upon the commencement of a UDRP dispute. UDRP/URS dispute resolutions are submitted using our Trustname will execute the order to the best of its ability within the required deadline (10 working days starting from the notification of the arbitral authority's decision within the framework of a UDRP decision, by Rule 4k of the Uniform Domain Name Resolution Procedures' guiding principles). Trustname will handle each request that emanates from a governmental or quasi-governmental entity (e.g., Independent Administrative Authority) within the framework of applicable law.
Other Cases
If you still believe Trustname can help you, you may submit a report here:
Additional Complaint Requirements
- Evidence that the complainant is the trademark holder, or an agent of the trademark holder;
- Reference to the law under which the trademark abuse is alleged.
- An official DMCA takedown notice or formal notice of trademark infringement that meets all DMCA requirements as outlined in our is also required to submit a complaint.
What Will Happen
Upon receipt of such a request via our , Trustname will :
- Respond with a case number.
- Investigate your complaint.
- Add the site, category, date, and resolution of your complaint to our internal database. Your personal information will not be recorded there.
Please Keep In Mind
- We cannot guarantee any particular outcome, but we will review your complaint and contact you only if necessary.
- Your complaint will be evaluated on its merits and addressed as appropriate.
- You will not receive any updates regarding the evaluation or outcome of the complaint. It is entirely at the discretion of the domain registrant whether or not to respond to you.
- We reserve the right to use your complaint to prove abuse to our customer, if necessary.
- Our team tracks complaints to improve anti-abuse processes and mitigate threats.
- If you submit your report using the , you will not receive further notification of receipt for additional submissions from your email address within 24 hours.
- The support code to submit this type of abuse report is S7Q-DMCA-Y9W.
Remember
- Limited Role – Domain name Registrars, such as Trustname, only maintain the system of domain names (example.org) that uniquely identify websites. They are not responsible for the content of the sites to which those domain names point. This means that if you dislike a site or its content, you should first contact the domain owner, then the service that hosts the site (web hosting service), and, if necessary, your local law enforcement authorities. As a domain Registrar, we can only act on court orders issued by or domesticated in the courts of Estonia, Germany, Canada, or the United States.
- ICANN Compliance – According to the ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement ( ) and Estonian law, as a Registrar, we are not authorized to take independent action against a domain based on third-party allegations. The responsibility for content and activities related to a domain lies with its administrator. However, in accordance with our role as an accredited Registrar, we will take action against a domain administrator if we receive a valid court order or a request from an ICANN-recognized authority.
- Our responsibilities – As a Registrar include addressing issues such as Botnets, Malware, Pharming, Phishing, Spam,, and, as refer to. For more information and our recommended solutions to these issues, please take a look at the related articles on ICANN's website.