The plaintiff, American Molex Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Molex Company), is an enterprise legal person registered in the United States, which is a multinational enterprise engaged in the manufacture and sale of electronic connectors in China. In 1989, the company registered the "MOLEX" trademark in the Trademark Office of China, and the approved products were Category 9, namely connectors, switches, sockets, interchangeable plug-in equipment and products, with the trademark registration number of 344511. Molex Company registered the ".com" domain name with "Molex" as the top-level domain name in 1994. The above trademarks and domain names are used in the distribution business in China. Defendant Shenzhen Changjiang Connector Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Changjiang Company) is an enterprise legal person registered in Shenzhen, which mainly sells electronic connector products. Changjiang Company registered the domain name ".cn" with the top-level domain name "molex" in March 23. The defendant has been using the website of the domain name to promote his company and products. According to the above facts, the plaintiff Molex Company sued the defendant Changjiang Company to the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province in early 27. The plaintiff believed that the defendant Changjiang Company's act of registering the "molex.cn" domain name and using the domain name to engage in e-commerce infringed its exclusive right to use a registered trademark and constituted unfair competition, and it should bear civil liability for stopping the infringement and compensating for the losses. The defendant argued that it registered the "molex.cn" domain name in March 23, when the plaintiff's "MOLEX" trademark had not reached a well-known level in China, and the defendant had no intention of infringement. The defendant obtained the consent of the plaintiff's agent when registering the "molex.cn" domain name, and the defendant purchased the products of the plaintiff's agent and then sold them to the outside world. Therefore, there was no malice in the defendant's registration and use of the "molex.cn" domain name. The defendant has been using the domain name "molex.cn" for nearly five years. According to the domain name settlement method of China Internet Center, if the disputed domain name registration period is over two years, the domain name dispute settlement organization will no longer accept it, so the plaintiff's claim should be rejected. Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court held through trial that the "MOLEX" trademark of the plaintiff Molex Company was approved and registered according to law, and it was within the validity period of legal protection, so it was protected by China's trademark law. Plaintiff's "MOLEX" trademark logo is a fabricated word. Compared with Plaintiff's trademark logo, the English words of the "molex" top-level domain registered and used by Defendant Changjiang Company are the same, except that the letters are different in case. The recognition of English letters on the Internet is case-insensitive. The goods distributed by the defendant through the website under its "molex.cn" domain name are electronic connectors, etc., which are the same as those approved for use by the plaintiff's registered trademark. Therefore, the defendant's registration and use of the "molex.cn" domain name is enough to make the relevant public misunderstand the goods provided by the original and the defendant. The defendant did not have the legitimate rights and interests to use the "molex.cn" domain name, and subjectively there was malicious infringement, so his behavior infringed the plaintiff's trademark right and constituted unfair competition. The court ruled that the defendant Changjiang Company immediately stopped using and cancelled the "molex.cn" domain name, and compensated the plaintiff Molex Company for its economic loss of 2, yuan. This case is a typical case of malicious registration and infringement of registered trademark rights by using domain names, which constitutes unfair competition. At the same time, this case is of exemplary significance for resolving the conflict between domain names and trademarks. I. Reasons for the conflict of rights between domain names and trademarks The conflict of rights has always been a controversial issue in the field of civil law and intellectual property law. Some scholars claim that this proposition is a false proposition, and the conflict of rights does not exist in essence; Others argue that there is a conflict of rights. Thus, clearly defining the concept of conflict of rights is the premise of discussion. The conflict of rights between domain names and trademarks in this paper means that the same or similar domain names and trademarks are legally registered in form and belong to different civil subjects, but in fact, the coexistence of domain names and trademarks will lead to conflicts of interest. In order to balance the interests of domain names and trademark owners, based on the application of trademark owners, legal sanctions should be given to the malicious registration and use of domain names in accordance with the law, so as to maintain an honest and fair market economic order. Domain names and trademarks are both business marks, which can be used to represent operators or related goods (services), which will lead to similar trademark infringement. CNNIC (China Internet Information Center) defines a domain name as a hierarchical character symbol for identifying and locating a computer on the Internet, which corresponds to the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer. Thus, a domain name is an Internet address composed of numbers or letters. With the help of a domain name, network users can easily visit a website without remembering its digital IP address. As an address on the Internet, enterprise domain name shows not only the business subject, but also its goods or services. It is a virtual place for business activities. In this sense, domain name has the meaning of business logo. If the domain name registered by an enterprise is the same as or similar to another person's trademark, and they have the same or similar business, the registration of the domain name may lead to confusion among the relevant public about the source of goods or services or the relationship between operators. When the registrant of a domain name has no legitimate rights and interests to use the domain name and is subjectively malicious, the behavior should be characterized as trademark infringement or unfair competition. Second, the solution to the conflict between domain name and trademark rights The solution to the conflict between domain name and trademark rights refers to clearing the conflicting domain name from the market trading place by defining the malicious registration of domain name, so as to solve the right dispute between domain name and trademark. In order to define the malicious registration of domain names, we must clearly define the elements that constitute malicious registration of domain names. Article 4 of the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Civil Disputes over Computer Network Domain Names stipulates that in the trial of domain name disputes, the people's court shall determine that the defendant's registration and use of domain names constitute infringement or unfair competition if the following conditions are met: (1) The civil rights and interests requested by the plaintiff are legal and valid; (2) The defendant's domain name or major part constitutes a copy, imitation, translation or transliteration of the plaintiff's well-known trademark; Or the same as or similar to the registered trademark and domain name of the plaintiff, which is enough to cause misidentification of the relevant public; (3) The defendant has no rights and interests in the domain name or its main part, and there is no justifiable reason for registering or using the domain name; (4) The defendant is malicious in the registration and use of the domain name. According to this regulation, the elements that constitute a maliciously registered domain name can be decomposed into: 1. The disputed domain name is identical or misleading with the trademark of the trademark owner; 2. The domain name registrant does not have the legal right or interest to register the domain name; 3. The domain name is maliciously registered or used. Third, demonstrate the proof standard of malicious registration of domain names. After the trademark owner has made clear the constitutive requirements of malicious registration of domain names, he must also make clear the proof standard of the establishment of each constitutive requirement. For the requirement of "the disputed domain name is the same as or similar to the trademark of the trademark owner", the trademark owner may prove that its trademark is legally registered, and the domain name registered by the defendant is the same as or misleading similar to its trademark. It is very difficult for the trademark owner to thoroughly prove that the domain name registrant does not have the legal rights or interests to register the domain name, because most of the information is only known and held by the defendant. It is generally believed that as long as the trademark owner claims that the defendant does not have the rights or legitimate interests in the domain name, the burden of proof will be transferred to the defendant. The trademark owner can demonstrate that the domain name is maliciously registered or used from the following aspects: for example, the purpose of domain name registration is to passively hold the domain name in order to sell, lease or transfer it to the trademark owner in other forms, so as to seek economic benefits; The purpose of a domain name registrant to register or obtain a domain name is to undermine the normal business operations of competitors; The purpose of a domain name registrant to register or obtain a domain name is to prevent trademark owners from reflecting their trademarks on the Internet through a certain form of domain name; The registrant of a domain name registers or uses a domain name in order to intentionally confuse or misunderstand the business relationship between the domain name and the goods or services represented by the trademark or the operators in the form of links, sponsorships, etc., so as to induce Internet users to visit their websites or other online addresses to order their trademarks or services, and thus obtain economic benefits. In response to the plaintiff's infringement allegations, the defendant can defend from the following aspects: 1. He has prior rights and interests in the domain name; 2. The disputed domain name belongs to common vocabulary and can be used as public resources for people to enjoy; 3. It uses the domain name in good faith. When the defendant's defense claim is established, it should not be considered that the defendant's registration, acquisition or use of the disputed domain name violated the plaintiff's trademark right, so the plaintiff's claim should be rejected. IV. Viewing the case from the conflict of rights between domain name and trademark In this case, the plaintiff has provided evidence to prove that it enjoys the exclusive right to use the trademark of MOLEX, and the top-level domain name in the domain name of molex.cn registered by the defendant is similar to the trademark of MOLEX; The defendant's purpose of registering and using the domain name of "molex.cn" is mainly to promote and sell electronic connectors and other products, which is the same as the category of goods approved for use by the plaintiff's registered trademark, thus it is very likely that the relevant public will confuse the source of the goods sold by the original and the defendant, or think that there may be a joint venture relationship between the original and the defendant; The electronic connector products produced and sold by the plaintiff using the MOLEX trademark are well-known in China, and the MOLEX trademark is a fictitious word. The defendant registered and used the domain name of molex.cn to attract consumers by using the reputation of the MOLEX trademark, so as to induce Internet users to visit its website, so as to order the electronic connector products or services it sells and obtain economic benefits. The defendant claimed that it obtained the consent of the plaintiff's agent when registering the "molex.cn" domain name, and the defendant purchased the products of the plaintiff's agent and then sold them to the outside world, so there was no malice in the defendant's registration and use of the "molex.cn" domain name. However, the defendant's defense just shows that he registered the plaintiff's "MOLEX" trademark as his domain name even though he knew it existed. The act of registering and using the "molex.cn" domain name lacked legal basis, and it was an act of malicious registration and use. It was correct for the people's court to order him to bear the civil liability of stopping using and canceling the "molex.cn" domain name and compensating the plaintiff Molex Company for its economic losses. (Author: Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, Guangdong Province)