January 11, 2002
Domain Dispute Mechanism Works Well

by David McGuire

The global mechanism for settling disputes over Internet addresses is "functioning satisfactorily," despite lingering concerns about the extent to which arbitrators are honoring free speech rights of address holders, according to a study issued today. 

Published by Munich-based Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law, the study examines 700 individual arbitration decisions made under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). 

Developed by Internet addressing authorities as an alternative to civil legal action, the UDRP establishes guidelines under which trademark holders can file claims against Internet users who register addresses that are "confusingly similar" to copyrighted and trademarked names. 

Of the 700 UDRP cases reviewed in the study, more than 76 percent resulted in Internet addresses being transferred from their original holders to the individuals or entities that filed the UDRP claims. In roughly 21 percent of the cases, original domain name holders retained their addresses. 

Study authors did not conclude that the high success rate of trademark holders who file UDRP claims against address holders indicated any endemic problems with the UDRP process. 

But critics of the UDRP, say that those statistics highlight their ongoing concerns about the fairness of the policy, particularly with regard to free speech and fair use by individual domain name holders. 

"Free speech is the paramount right and trademark is a little carve-out from that, not the other way around," Karl Auerbach, a member of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) Board of Directors, said today. 

Details at: http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=2763

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