How to Handle a Domain Name Dispute in Thailand

You put a lot of time and effort into coming up with your business name. So imagine if you found out that someone else was using it online, posing as your brand or essentially using your company’s identity without permission. Unfortunately, this is the sort of situation faced regularly by brand owners operating in Thailand or with Thai partners, suppliers, and distributors.

Let’s take a look at why it happens and how to fix it.

Why Are Domain Name Disputes Commonplace in Thailand?

In many countries, there are rules, systems, and protections in place to guard against companies or individuals using each other’s names. There are trademark protections, for example, and authorities to help you register your name and enjoy exclusive rights and ownership over it. These protections mean you can take legal action if anyone else tries to use it.

This applies in Thailand, too. However, there are certain loopholes in the way Thai .th domain name registration works, which bad actors sometimes exploit.

To be more specific, according to current domain registration policy in Thailand, Thai domain names can be registered based on either a registered trademark or a registered company name. So, someone might hold a trademark for a certain name, but another company with the same name could theoretically exist – or be set up specifically to cannibalize your brand.

Given that Thai domain names are handed out on a first come, first serve basis, the company owner in this example could go ahead and register the name before the trademark owner has a chance to do so. Then, later on, when the trademark owner tries to register the name, they’ll discover that it’s no longer available, generating a dispute.

There was even a real-life case involving a business working with a Thai distributor. The distributor created a domain name using the trademark of its business partner, without seeking permission to do so. In the end, the distributor shut down the disputed domain after negotiations with its business partner, but disputes like these don’t always end so amicably.

Your Options for Dealing With Domain Name Disputes

So, if you find yourself in the situation where someone else has a Thai (.th) website using your company’s name or registered trademark, you have two options:

• Negotiate with them, or
• Take them to court

Of the two, negotiation is obviously much cheaper and simpler. It won’t always succeed, but it’s worthwhile reaching out to the domain name holder, explaining your position and rights over the name in question, and attempting to reach an agreement that suits both parties through discussion.

If the negotiations go smoothly, the domain holder can opt to withdraw their ownership of the domain. That will free it up so you can go ahead and register it as your own. This is the ideal result, and it’s definitely worth attempting, as there are cases where the domain owners will admit they made a mistake and cede ownership of the domain to its rightful owner.

Unfortunately, there are also cases where that won’t happen. The domain name holder will insist that the domain is theirs, that they have just as much right to it as you, and refuse to withdraw their ownership of it as they have no legal obligation to do so. In that case, your only option is to pursue legal action.

For that, you’ll typically need to hire expert attorneys with experience in these sorts of cases, and then take the case to the Intellectual Property and International Trade Court. If you hold the trademark for the domain name in question, you have a good chance of demonstrating rightful ownership of the domain and proving that it was registered in bad faith by the other party.

If all goes well, the court will order the domain to be withdrawn from its current holder and handed over to you. But as with any legal action, this process costs money, takes time, and there’s always a risk the court can rule against you.

Register Your .th Domain Name Today

Given the complexities involved in .th domain disputes, it’s often best to get ahead of the game and minimize the chances of having a dispute in the first place. The way to do this is simple – register .th domain names for all of your important trademarks and company names today, to lock them in and prevent anyone else registering them before you.