Website Domain Names

Registering Your .ca Domain Name
Millions of people, organizations, and businesses trust the .ca domain name to brand themselves as Canadian online.[1] The .ca domain represents an important tool for companies operating in the Canadian marketplace, and therefore it is advisable to proactively secure brands as .ca domain names at the earliest opportunity.
Benefits of a .ca domain name
The .ca domain name is ideal for Canadian websites for many reasons, including:

• That it’s the only domain name extension that identifies a website as 100% Canada (“the Canadian connection”);
• Safety and security;
• More availability over the .com domain name;
• The proceeds are reinvested directly into the Canadian internet community;
• Research shows that Canadian users prefer shopping on .ca websites as it gives off the impression of “buying local”; and
• You can gain Canadian Internet Registration Authority (“CIRA”) membership.[2]

Know the Canadian Presence Requirements
There is a Canadian presence requirement (CPR) for individuals, organizations and businesses to register a .ca domain. This requirement is meant to reserve .ca domain names for Canadians. All .ca domain name registrants must meet at least one of the 18 CPRs, i.e., the individual, organization or business must be, for example, a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, corporation, trademark registered in Canada, partnership, etc.[3]
Register your .ca

1. Searching
   

You can find out if a domain name is available by searching the CIRA website (CIRA has been managing the Registry since 2000).[4] If the domain name you want is not available, try selecting a suggested alternative or consult CIRA’s domain name life cycle page to find out when already-registered domain names expire.[5]
    2. Choosing a Registrar
While CIRA manages the .ca domain name registry, the domain names are actually registered through online retailers called Registrars. Registrars are evaluated and certified by CIRA every year and there are over 150 of them. When you search for a .ca domain name on CIRA’s website their certified Registrars are displayed. The Registrar you choose is important as they will be the main point of contact for the registration and management of your .ca domain name.
    3. Registering a domain name
Once you’ve chosen a Registrar, a fee of $9.50 per year is payable by the Registrar on the approval of an application by CIRA.[6] Tips for registering and protecting your domain include: to always register the domain name yourself so that you will always have access to the account; choose a strong password; provide the Registrant with the correct administrative contact information for renewal purposes; choose a registration term length that works for you (auto-renewal can be set up).[7]
Protecting/Recovering domain names registered in bad faith
The .ca domain name operates on a first-come first-served basis. However, if there was a delay in registering a .ca domain name, there is the potential that cybersquatters (a bad faith Registrant) would have had the opportunity to register the domain name corresponding to brands that have recently entered in the Canadian market and, for non-Canadian companies, brands that are expected to enter Canada.[8] If you suspect that there was a bad faith registration, there is a specific .ca domain name dispute resolution process called the CIRA Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).[9] Before a complaint can be made, the Complainant under the Policy must meet the CPR for registering a .ca domain before it can initiate a dispute. In order to succeed in a dispute, a Complainant must prove that:

1. The Registrant’s .ca domain name is confusingly similar to a mark in which the Complainant had rights prior to the date of registration of the domain name;
2. The Registrant has no legitimate interest in the .ca domain name; and
3. The Registrant had registered the .ca name in bad faith.[10]

The Policy considers a Registrant to have registered a domain name in bad faith if:

1. the Registrant registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, licensing or otherwise transferring the Registration to the Complainant for valuable consideration in excess of the Registrant’s actual costs in registering the domain name;
2. the Registrant registered the domain name in order to prevent the Complainant from registering one of the Complainant’s marks as a domain name, provided that the Registrant has engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or
3. the Registrant registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of the Complainant, who is a competitor of the Registrant.
4. The Registrant intentionally attempted to attract, Internet users to the Registrant’s website, by creating a likelihood of confusion.[11]

There are several difficulties that arise with the bad faith requirement, one being when you’re dealing with a sophisticated cybersquatter that has knowledge of the Policy. These cybersquatters will not initiate an offer to sell, they will wait for the mark owner to make an offer, they will register multiple domain names so that it is difficult to prove a pattern of conduct, and finally, the cybersquatter is unlikely to be a competitor of a trademark owner thus making it difficult to fulfill the requirements of bad faith under CIRA’s exhaustive list.[12] Overall, it’s best to be proactive and register your domain name as soon as possible as the costs of initiating a CIRA dispute are high (over $4,000).[13]

Amber Blair is a member of the BLG Business Venture Clinic, and is a 2nd year student at the Faculty of Law, University of Calgary.

References:
[1] https://cira.ca/blog/information-technology/infographic-%E2%80%93-dns-canada.
[2] https://cira.ca/ca-domains.
[3] https://cira.ca/canadian-presence-requirements-registrants.
[4] https://cira.ca/.
[5] https://cira.ca/domain-name-life-cycle.
[6] https://cira.ca/ca-certified-registrars/become-cira-certified-registrar/registrar-fee-list.
[7] https://cira.ca/ca-domains/register-your-ca.
[8] http://www.smart-biggar.ca/en/articles_detail.cfm?news_id=1078.
[9] https://cira.ca/cira-domain-name-dispute-resolution-policy.
[10] https://cira.ca/cira-domain-name-dispute-resolution-policy; http://www.smart-biggar.ca/en/articles_detail.cfm?news_id=166.
[11] https://cira.ca/cira-domain-name-dispute-resolution-policy; http://www.smart-biggar.ca/en/articles_detail.cfm?news_id=166.
[12] http://www.smart-biggar.ca/en/articles_detail.cfm?news_id=166.
[13] http://www.smart-biggar.ca/en/articles_detail.cfm?news_id=166.