success by default
policy recommendations in brief:
1. require complainants to post a $1000 bond in addition to the costs of filing a
complaint. the refundable bond would discourage merit-less claims and help
legitimate respondents to participate in the proceeding rather than defaulting. if the
complainant wins the case the money is refunded; if the complaint fails the money is
given to the respondent to defray the costs of a defense. if the respondent defaults
the bond is refunded and the procedure should be truncated so that complainants’
arbitration costs can be further reduced.
2. to promote and preserve freedom of expression on the internet clarify standards for
a finding of “confusing similarity” to a trademark. domain names that signal
criticism parody or commentary upon products and companies (e.g.
<icannwatch.org>) should not be classified as “confusing” unless they are used in
ways that actively promote fraud deception or confusion. precedents that stretch
notions of confusing similarity to include any incorporation of a trademark in a
domain name should be repudiated and the policy modified to prevent such findings.
3. expand the list of bad faith factors to formally include such things as the “passive
holding” doctrine and identity concealment but make the list exhaustive and limited
to the specified factors. the current approach which allows any panelist to invent a
bad faith finding “without limitation” gives panelists too much discretion and fosters
inconsistent decisions.
factual findings in brief:
1. domain name speculation and the large number of abusive registrations were the
product of a temporary boom in <.com> registrations that peaked in the first quarter
of 2000. the number of disputes – and the significance of holding any particular
domain name – will decline as this boom recedes in time new tlds are added and
the guessability of names declines. there is also strong evidence that the udrp has
had a deterrent effect. but as long as dns and the web survive there will always
been a need for domain name dispute resolution.
2. the udrp has been an effective remedy for cybersquatting primarily because it
makes it economically inefficient for abusive registrants to defend their names.
known cybersquatters default (i.e. fail to defend the name) 70 – 100% of the time.
unfortunately many seemingly good faith registrants default too. the degree to
which respondents are able to defend themselves is the single most significant factor
in determining the outcome of udrp cases.
3. eighteen percent (18%) of udrp claims are based upon unregistered trademarks.
the udrp has protected personal names as strongly as registered marks.
برای دریافت ادامه مقاله a new profile of domain name trademark disputes under icann’s udrp روی لینک ذیل کلیک کنید