Ministry solves problem of bad-faith domain registration

China's Ministry of Information Industry has issued an 'official reply', setting out the way in which bad-faith acts involving domain names should be handled. This is in response to a question raised by the China Internet Network Information Centre, China's principal domain name registrar.

The centre has encountered the problem of companies pre-registering domain names online, but not then submitting the necessary documentation or paying the registration fees as specified in the Interim Measures for the Administration of the Registration of Chinese Internet Domain Names.

The ministry's solution is to clarify Article 18 of the measures by providing that if someone applies to register a domain name, but does not submit formal application documents or the registration fee within 30 days, the application will be denied.

Jon Eichelberger, Perkins Cole LLP, Beijing