In her article, law student Megan Drury argues that the United States government asserts its domination of the internet through the allocation of domain names. While the implementation of the new domain name dispute mechanism proposed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation may go some way toward neutralising the US influence, Megan concludes that the cultural imperialism of the US will continue to influence the content of cyberspace.

This paper argues that the allocation of domain names reveals that the extent of US governance of the Internet is as invisible and uncontested as the governance of code itself.

This paper attempts to provide a practical guide to use of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy procedure.

Rebekah Gay and David Stone, solicitors at Freehills, provide a guide to bringing Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) proceedings based on some of the jurisprudence developed to date. Rebekah and David discuss, among other things, the jurisdiction of the UDRP, the administrative proceedings and the method of filing a complaint with a dispute resolution service provider approved by ICANN.

Nigel Jones, a partner and Ari Laakkonen, an associate solicitor, at Linklaters & Alliance, London have provided an overview of e-patents in the United Kingdom and in Europe. In their article, Nigel and Ari set out the relevant criteria for obtaining an e-business patent. They also look at why such patents are likely to become easier to obtain. Finally, they consider the scope of protection that an e-business patent confers.

This article explains what the relevant criteria are for obtaining patents in this area, explains why such patents are likely to become easier to obtain and also considers the scope of the protection they confer.

In the next article, Ari Laakkonen, looks further into the topic of patents for software and business systems by examining the issues relating to the enforcement and infringement of such patents. Ari examines whether patent protection can be easily circumvented by siting a software server outside the jurisdiction and allowing access over the internet. Ari also discuss the practical difficulties in enforcing judgments restraining the distribution of patented inventions using the internet outside the jurisdiction where no treaties for the enforcement of judgments abroad apply. As case law on the jurisdiction of English courts over United Kingdom patents on the internet is not yet fully developed, Ari explores potential parallels that might be drawn from trade mark case law involving e-commerce.

European patent law prohibits the patenting of computer programs and business methods “as such”. Yet thousands of patents have been granted here for computer programs and computerised business systems. Many more are in the pipeline and it is becoming easier and easier to obtain patents in that field. But, can they be enforced?