Many domain name disputes concern the abusive use of existing trademarks by third parties. Cybersquatters exploit the first-come, first-served principle of the domain name registration system.

Initially, the Internet suffered from an absence of international legal standards for resolving these disputes. Nearly 10 years ago, WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization) published a report containing recommendations which led to the establishment of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) by ICANN on January 1, 1999.

Today, a company can obtain the cancellation or transfer of a domain name registered by a third party if it can prove:
− that the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to one of its trademarks;
− that the owner of the domain name has no rights or legitimate interests in the name;
− and/or that the third party is using it in bad faith. In France, WIPO sentenced an individual to retrocede frieskies.fr, natexisinterepargne.fr and more recently
laydernier.fr, from the name of a bank belonging to the French Crédit du Nord Group.

On the other hand,WIPO dismissed pop singer Sting’s request to recover sting.com. The reasons included that the rights holder was legally known by that name, that it is a common English word and that it is not necessarily an
exclusive mark.

To read more about this subject: 
http://www.wipo.int/aboutip/fr/studies/publications/domain_names.htm