Yes, you have remedies, and the fastest one for brand.in does not go through a court. The search "someone registered my brand name as a domain" has a three-part answer. A domain or a handle that copies your brand is actionable as passing off even while your trademark application is pending, and as infringement once the mark is registered, because the Supreme Court held in Satyam Infoway Ltd v Siffynet Solutions Pvt Ltd (6 May 2004) that a domain name is a business identifier that "could found an action for passing off". For the .in domain, the .IN Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (INDRP) lets an arbitrator appointed by the .IN Registry order the domain transferred to you, with the award due within 60 days of the arbitrator's notice. For brand.com the UDRP does the same through WIPO, and a civil court can injunct the use, direct the registrar and pass an order the platform must act on within three hours.
Part of the intellectual property practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.
This page is for a founder whose two-year-old brand is applied for or registered in one class, and whose name a stranger now holds as brand.in, brand.com and an Instagram handle. The general law of infringement is in our guide on trademark infringement and the note on passing off versus infringement.
| Route | What you must show | Who decides | Time | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INDRP complaint, brand.in | Rights in the name or mark, no legitimate interest, bad faith registration or use | A Registry-appointed arbitrator | Award within 60 days of notice, extendable by 30 | Transfer or cancellation, costs. No damages |
| UDRP complaint, brand.com | Confusingly similar to your mark, no legitimate interest, registered and used in bad faith | A panel of a provider such as WIPO | About 2 months at WIPO, plus 10 business days | Transfer or cancellation. No damages |
| Civil suit for infringement or passing off | A registered mark and deceptively similar use, or goodwill, misrepresentation and damage | The District Court, section 134 | Interim injunction in weeks to months, trial in years (indicative) | Injunction, damages or profits, delivery up, orders to registrars and platforms |
| Platform complaint, the handle | Your trademark or the impersonation, the URLs, a declaration | The grievance officer, then the Grievance Appellate Committee | Acknowledgment in 24 hours, decision in 7 days, appeal in 30 days | Removal or disabling. No right to the username |
Someone registered my brand name as a domain before I did: do I have rights if my trademark is only applied for?
You do, because the rights that matter here come from use, not from the certificate. Section 27(1) of the Trade Marks Act 1999 bars an infringement suit on an unregistered mark, and section 27(2) preserves "rights of action against any person for passing off". In Satyam Infoway the Supreme Court restored a temporary injunction for the earlier Sify against the later Siffy domains, holding that "a domain name is also used as business identifier" and that although "there is no legislation which explicitly refers to dispute resolution in connection with domain names", they are protected "to the extent possible under the laws relating to passing off".
What you must prove is goodwill, and the judgment says: "It is not essential for the plaintiff to prove long user to establish reputation in a passing off action. It would depend upon the volume of sales and extent of advertisement." A pending application proves only that you claimed the name on a date. Once the mark registers, section 28(1) gives you the exclusive right to it for the registered goods, and section 29(5) catches use of your registered mark as the name of a business concern dealing in the same goods. The INDRP asks the same question: clause 4(a) needs a name or mark "in which the Complainant has rights", rights rather than registration. Our registration guide and the note on choosing classes cover the register.
Key takeaway. Your position rests on proof of use, which you already have, and improves the day the mark registers. File in every class you trade in before the first notice goes.
How do I get brand.in transferred without going to court?
You file an INDRP complaint with the .IN Registry, run by NIXI, and a panel arbitrator decides it on the documents. Clause 4 lists the three elements: the domain is identical or confusingly similar to a name or mark in which you have rights, the registrant "has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name", and the domain "has been registered or is being used either in bad faith or for illegal/unlawful purpose". That "or" makes the .in route easier to plead than the .com one. Clause 7(a) describes your squatter as evidence of bad faith: a domain acquired "primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the Complainant" for more than the registrant's "documented out-of-pocket costs".
The INDRP Rules of Procedure set the clock. The complaint goes to NIXI electronically with the fee and a power of attorney, capped at 5,000 words and 100 pages of annexures, one complaint per domain. NIXI checks compliance and appoints an arbitrator within five working days each, and the arbitrator issues notice within three working days. Rule 5(e) then requires the award "within 60 days from the date of commencement of arbitration proceeding", extendable by at most 30 days for written reasons. The Registry's own schedule fixes the fee at Rs 10,000 for administration and Rs 20,000 for the arbitrator, Rs 30,000 plus GST, not refunded once the arbitrator is appointed.
Clause 11 limits the remedy to "the cancellation of the Registrant's domain name or the transfer of the Registrant's domain name registration to the Complainant", plus costs, and no damages. Clause 14 adds a hold: no transfer to either party while the arbitration is pending, for ninety days from the award, or while a challenge is pending, so a clean run from filing to a domain in your name is closer to five months than to two.
Four numbers from the Registry's own pages carry the .in route.
Sixty days to an award
The arbitrator's notice starts the clock and rule 5(e) requires the award within 60 days, extendable by at most 30 for written reasons.
Rs 30,000 plus GST
Rs 10,000 for administration and Rs 20,000 for the arbitrator on the Registry's schedule, paid by the complainant, not refunded once the arbitrator is appointed.
Transfer or cancellation only
Clause 11 confines the remedy to cancelling the domain or transferring it to you, plus costs. Damages need a court.
Ninety-day hold after award
Clause 14 blocks any transfer while the case is pending, for ninety days after the award, and during any challenge.
What about brand.com and the Instagram handle?
Brand.com goes to the UDRP, the ICANN policy binding every .com and .net registrant, and the handle goes to the platform under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. Paragraph 4(a) of the UDRP mirrors the INDRP with one difference: its third element is a domain that "has been registered and is being used in bad faith", both together. WIPO's guide says a case "normally should be completed within 2 months" of receipt, and its published fee for one to five domains before a single panelist is USD 1,500.
The handle is different because nobody arbitrates a username. Rule 3(1)(b) of the 2021 Rules obliges the platform to make reasonable efforts to keep off its service information that "infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights" (sub-clause (iv)) or "impersonates another person" (sub-clause (vi)). Rule 3(2)(a) requires a grievance officer who must acknowledge a complaint within twenty-four hours and, since the 10 February 2026 amendment, resolve it within seven days. But removal requests under rule 3(1)(b) are to be resolved within thirty-six hours, and sub-clause (iv), the trademark limb, is expressly excluded from that track, so a trademark grievance runs on the seven-day clock and an impersonation grievance on the thirty-six-hour one. Rule 3(2)(b) adds a two-hour clock where an individual's own identity is impersonated, which helps a founder whose face is on the fake account, not a brand as such.
Instagram's help pages say usernames are "claimed on a first-come, first-served basis" and that "not every use of your trademark in a username is necessarily a trademark infringement". Its trademark report needs your registration number if you have one, the country, the goods, the URLs and a declaration, and the platform passes your name, email address and the report to the person reported, so file from a business address.
Common mistake. Labelling the platform report "impersonation" when the account only uses your brand word, or "trademark" when it copies your founder's face and name. The two grievances carry different clocks and different proof.
What can a court order that the arbitrator cannot?
A court can stop the use now, reach the person and the money, and direct third parties. A suit for infringement or passing off goes to a court no lower than a District Court under section 134(1), and section 134(2) lets the proprietor of a registered mark sue where it "actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business". That convenience is written for the infringement suit and not for the passing off clause, so a brand with only a pending application sues where the defendant is or where the cause of action arose. Section 135(2) allows an ex parte injunction and orders restraining the defendant "from disposing of or dealing with his assets", and Order 39 rule 2A of the Code of Civil Procedure punishes disobedience with attachment and civil prison for up to three months.
Arun Jaitley v Network Solutions Pvt Ltd (Delhi High Court, 4 July 2011) shows the sequence. The domain of the plaintiff's own name had expired, and it went to an entity the court called one of the traffickers in domain names. The interim order restrained that registrant from advertising, auctioning, transferring or selling the domain. The final judgment directed it "to transfer the said domain name to the plaintiff with immediate effect", directed "the necessary governing body under the ICANN rules" to block and transfer the domain, and awarded punitive damages of Rs 5 lakh for the trafficking. Those are the orders a brand asks for.
Under rule 3(1)(d) of the 2021 Rules, as substituted from 15 November 2025 and tightened on 10 February 2026, a court order gives the platform actual knowledge and it must remove or disable access within three hours, or lose the safe harbour of section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act 2000.
Is the squatter committing an offence, and should I go to the cyber police?
Registering your brand as a domain and asking for money is a civil wrong, not a crime, and a complaint built on registration alone will not travel. Section 66D of the Information Technology Act 2000 punishes cheating by personation by means of a communication device or computer resource with imprisonment up to three years and a fine up to one lakh rupees, and section 66C, identity theft, covers fraudulent use of another person's "electronic signature, password or any other unique identification feature". Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, section 318(1) defines cheating and section 319 makes cheating by personation, "pretending to be some other person", punishable with imprisonment up to five years, fine, or both. Preserve the payment trail of the customers who were taken in, because their loss makes out the cheating, then file at the cyber crime police station or the national portal, as our guide to reporting cyber crime explains, with our cyber crime practice running it alongside the civil case.
Should I just pay them and get it over with?
No, and put the refusal in writing, because the offer to sell is the best evidence you hold. INDRP clause 7(a) and UDRP paragraph 4(b)(i) both make an acquisition made primarily to sell the domain to the mark owner for more than out-of-pocket costs a badge of bad faith, and the squatter's message proves it. Reply once, from a business email: you own the name, you will not pay, and you require transfer within a stated number of days. Do not negotiate on the phone or float a counter-offer, because a bargaining thread turns the bad-faith point into a failed commercial negotiation. A cease and desist notice, as our note on cease and desist notices explains, does this job and becomes the first annexure.
What I tell founders at the first meeting is that this is a paperwork race. Three documents decide these files: the date of your first use with an invoice behind it, the date of the squatter's registration from the WHOIS record, and the message asking for money. Where founders lose weeks is the register, when a mark applied for in one class meets a brand that sells in three. Fix that in week one.
Step by step in the first two weeks, and the mistakes to avoid
- Day 1: capture the evidence. Screenshot the domain pages, the profile, the look-alike posts and the offer to sell, each with the date visible, and pull the WHOIS records.
- Day 1 to 3: assemble the first-use file: earliest invoice, marketplace onboarding email, packaging bills, ad receipts and press mentions, in date order.
- Day 2 to 5: run a trademark search and file in every class you trade in, including the class that covers online retail of your goods.
- Day 3 to 7: send the cease and desist notice by email and courier to the WHOIS address, refusing to pay and requiring transfer by a date.
- Day 7 to 14: file the INDRP complaint for brand.in with NIXI, one complaint per domain, with the power of attorney and the fee, and the UDRP complaint for brand.com.
- Same week: file the platform's trademark report and a grievance citing rule 3(1)(b)(iv), or rule 3(2)(b) if the account copies your founder's identity, and diary the clocks.
- If the site is trading: instruct a suit with an Order 39 injunction application naming the registrar and the platform, and a cyber crime complaint where customers have paid.
Deadline warning. The clocks you control are short: 24 hours for the platform's acknowledgment, seven days for its decision, thirty days for the appeal, 60 days for the INDRP award. Diary each from the date of filing and chase on the day it lapses.
Two mistakes sit outside the list: waiting for the domain to lapse, when a dropped domain is available to anyone the day it drops and in Arun Jaitley went straight to a trafficker, and suing purely in passing off in Bengaluru on the strength of section 134(2), which does not reach the passing off clause. Four more habits lose these cases.
Phone negotiations
A bargaining thread turns the price demand from evidence of bad faith under clause 7(a) into a failed negotiation. Reply once, in writing.
One class on the register
A mark applied for in one class while the brand sells in three gives the other side a gap. File the missing classes in week one.
Two domains, one complaint
The INDRP Rules require a separate complaint for each domain. A combined filing goes back for compliance before the clock starts.
Wrong grievance label
A trademark grievance runs on the seven-day clock and an impersonation grievance on the thirty-six-hour one. The wrong label loses the fast track.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I file an INDRP complaint if my trademark is only applied for?
Yes. Clause 4(a) requires a name or mark "in which the Complainant has rights", not a registration, so evidence of use and reputation can carry the first element. A registration makes it a one-line point and shortens the platform's form too.
How long does an INDRP complaint take?
NIXI appoints the arbitrator within five working days of a compliant filing, the arbitrator issues notice within three working days, and the award is due within 60 days of that notice, extendable by 30. The Registry then holds the domain for ninety days from the award, and longer if the award is challenged.
What does an INDRP complaint cost?
The Registry's schedule fixes Rs 10,000 as its administration fee and Rs 20,000 as the arbitrator's fee, Rs 30,000 plus GST in all, with Rs 2,000 plus GST for each personal hearing if one is allowed. Nothing is refunded once the arbitrator is appointed, and advocate's fees are separate.
Can the arbitrator award me damages?
No. Clause 11 limits the remedy to cancellation or transfer of the domain, with costs at the arbitrator's discretion. Damages or an account of profits need a suit under section 135 of the Trade Marks Act.
Will Instagram give me the handle?
Not as of right. The platform says usernames are first-come, first-served and cannot be reserved, and the 2021 Rules oblige it to act on infringing or impersonating content, not to hand the username to you. Removal or disabling of the account is the usual result of a successful report.
Is cybersquatting a crime in India?
Registration alone is not. It becomes a criminal matter when the handle or site is used to cheat, under section 66D of the Information Technology Act and sections 318 and 319 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the customers who paid are the complainants whose loss proves it.
Should I respond to the squatter's offer at all?
Once, in writing, refusing to pay and demanding transfer by a date. An offer to sell for more than out-of-pocket costs is bad-faith evidence under INDRP clause 7(a) and UDRP paragraph 4(b)(i), and a written refusal keeps it that way.
Can I sue in Bengaluru if the squatter is in another state or abroad?
With a registered mark, yes, because section 134(2) lets the proprietor sue where it carries on business. A pure passing off suit does not get that convenience and follows the ordinary forum rules of the Code of Civil Procedure.
What if the squatter ignores the INDRP notice?
Rule 17 lets the arbitrator decide the complaint ex parte and the award binds the registrant. Notice goes by email to the addresses in the WHOIS record and, where there is none, to postmaster at the disputed domain.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice on your specific situation.
