With a trademark this is not the case. Secondly, only one party may register that trademark as a domain name. Lastly, a party may register a domain name which is similar to another domain name. In the law of trademarks this is not permitted. When a trademark is registered, a trademark proprietor may prohibit unauthorised use of its trademark in terms of the Trademarks Act 194 of 1993.
Provision is made in the act for recourse when an infringement has taken place.
In the absence of legislation and specific case law, our common law principles should be wide enough to regulate disputes on the internet. For example, a passing-off action could be the appropriate remedy. Passing-off is a practice whereby a competitor attempts to pass its proposed or existing business off as being connected to that of its competitor by using or attempting to use its competitor's trading name. Here, the respondents placed their telephone number next to their competitor's name in the telephone directory. The court held that the linking of the applicant's trading name with the respondent's telephone number could cause prejudice and accordingly facilitate the diversion of some of the applicant's clients.