In 2010, trademark holders filed 2,696 cybersquatting cases covering
4,370 domain names with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO
Center) under procedures based on the Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy (UDRP), an increase of 28 per cent over the 2009
level, compared to an increase in domain registrations of 6.3 per cent
in 2009, and of 16 per cent over the previous record year, 2008.
The WIPO Center is the organisation that deals with the largest
number of dispute resolutions dealing with domain names. The National
Arbitration Forum is another.
“The WIPO Center is the leading provider of domain name dispute
services and provides a rich range of resources for users and the
general public. The just-released major update to the WIPO Overview is
an excellent illustration of these resources and reflects the long
experience of the WIPO Center,” said WIPO Director General Francis
Gurry.
“The revised WIPO Overview distils panel findings in thousands of
domain name cases filed with WIPO since its launch,” added Mr. Gurry.
However while the WIPO Center rightly points to the record number of
disputes it has resolved, it is difficult to know if cybersquatting has
reached a record level or if enforcement has hit a record level.
“While the number of cases was up, the ratio of cases to total
domains registered has only been lower once in the past decade,” notes
Domain Name Wire. “The spike in cases can largely be attributed to a few
mass filers using trademark enforcement companies. For example, Lego
filed over 100 cases with the help of Melbourne IT Digital Brand
Services.”
Since the UDRP’s launch in December 1999, the WIPO Center has
received over 20,000 UDRP-based cases, covering some 35,000 domain names
in both generic and country code Top Level Domains (gTLDs and ccTLDs).
Cases filed with WIPO in 2010 included parties from 57 countries. These
cases were decided by 327 panelists from 49 countries in 13 different
languages, namely (in order of frequency) English, Spanish, French,
Dutch, German, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Romanian,
Swedish, and Japanese. In 91 per cent of cases, panels found evidence of
cybersquatting, deciding in favour of complainants.
The top five areas of WIPO complainant activity were retail, banking
and finance, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, Internet and IT, and
fashion . WIPO’s 2010 caseload featured well-known names from business
and public interest sectors . Most of these cases (82%) concerned
registrations in the .COM domain.
Among WIPO cases, the percentage related to country code Top Level
Domains rose to 15 per cent of all cases in 2010 from just one per cent
in 2000. National registries designating WIPO to provide domain name
dispute resolution services increased to 65 in 2010 from 62 in 2009.
Among the new additions, the policy for the .BR domain of Brazil is
inspired by the UDRP but also imports several modifications specific to
expressed local needs.
Against the background of the global emergence of domain names in
local language scripts, as of October 2010, the WIPO Center is providing
domain name dispute resolution services for both .AE and امارات.
(dotEmarat). The United Arab Emirates now not only utilizes its existing
.AE two-letter country code in Latin characters, but also the امارات.
(dotEmarat) Internationalized ccTLD in Arabic script.
Source : http://www.domainpulse.com/2011/04/01/wipo-dispute-resolution-hits-record-level-in-2010/
