Catholic Law second-year student Chris Huff was recently published in Information & Communication Technology Law with his article, “License and registration: how both property and contract legal frameworks fall short on interpreting domain name registration under the US Anticybersquatting Act.”

Intellectual property law has been an area of interest for Huff for some time, particularly in how it intersects with international law. When it came time to choose a research topic, Huff looked for ways to combine the two. Huff explained, “Arguably nothing is more international in scope than the Internet, where the intrigue of the circuit split I wrote about—and aimed to help resolve—takes place. When I realized I could present a unique take on the problem, that instead of approaching domain names as contracts or as property, they resemble licenses, it was off to the races.”

Throughout the drafting process, Huff received assistance from Catholic Law alumnus Nicholas Beizer ’99. Thankful for the mentorship that Beizer provided, Huff said, “He was kind enough to serve as my Expert Reader and offer his thoughts and tweaks, and he graciously encouraged me to take ownership of the article when I asked whether he’d like to be credited.” Once he had his finished product, Huff was supported by the Journal of Law & Technology Editor-in-Chief, John Bat (3L), to seek publication.

About the experience, Huff shared, “Having my work published in an international journal is an achievement I feel proud and fortunate to have experienced, and it made me want to do more writing of this kind as part of my future career.” He concluded with encouraging words to peers interested in publication, “Be assured, the platform for submitting your work is available to you.”

Information & Communication Technology Law
By: Chris A. Huff
Date: February 26, 2021
License and registration: how both property and contract legal frameworks fall short on interpreting domain name registration under the US Anticybersquatting Act

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“What are a re-registrant's rights to an Internet domain name under the US Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act? Circuit courts of appeals have split on the question of whether to view Internet domain name re-registrations as intangible property (Ninth Circuit) or under a contract framework (Third and Eleventh Circuits).

But it turns out that both of these views fall short. The property approach could encourage cybersquatting, contravening the ACPA’s statutory purpose, and the contract approach can be over-inclusive, potentially subjecting to liability a domain name registrant who is merely changing her address, her payment information, or even correcting a misspelling. Where the two approaches lead to divergent outcomes, a hybrid approach is not feasible.”

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