Lewis and Hand, LLP | New York Law Firm

WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center Reports Spike in UDRPs

admin — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:28:11 +0000

The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, one of the primary domain name
dispute resolution forums, reports that the number of UDRP filings submitted
during the first four months of this year exceeds all previous records. In
2008, WIPO recorded its highest number of domain name filings in a single
year. The number of filings in the same period for this year outstrips 2008
by 40 filings. The numbers also show a 21% increase in the number of
filings relative to the same period in 2009. Erik Wilbers, Director of the
Center, attributes the trend at least in part to WIPO’s introduction of the
eUDRP, which for the first time has allowed for paperless UDRP filings.

The Academy Sues GoDaddy Over Parked Pages

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:43:36 +0000

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences filed a 134-page lawsuit against domain registrar GoDaddy.com and its subsidiaries for alleged trafficking in unauthorized trademarks. Suing under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, the Academy disputes more than 100 domain names, including 2011oscars.com, academyawardz.com, jaylenososcars.com, betacademyawards.com, oscarsunplugged.com, oscarshotels.com, oscarstravel.com, oscarsliveblogging.com and more. Damages could total as much as $10 million.

thresq.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/academy-oscars-godaddy-mass-cybersquatting-lawsuit-.html

UDRP Complaint Up In Smoke

MelissaA — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:59:04 +0000

Lewis & Hand, LLP successfully defended 51 domain names registered during the course of a 5 year authorized distribution relationship in WIPO proceeding Storz & Bickel GmbH & Co. KG v. MSI Imports LLC, Case No. D2009-1769. See related coverage on Wired.com.

Paperless UDRPs Are Here!

MelissaA — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:05:52 +0000

WIPO, one of the primary domain name dispute arbitration forums, just announced that it will be requiring all UDRP filings to be made electronically, no hard copies required or permitted, starting March 1, 2010, with the option to file electronic-only or by paper through February 28. Not only is the change designed to speed up the notification process for newly filed complaints, the move to e-filing should significantly decrease the cost of prosecuting and defending UDRP complaints – as the expense of shipping documents to Geneva has a way of adding up – especially when opting for a three-member panel! At 50 megabytes total, the file-size limits should be generous enough to cover even the lengthy stack of exhibits that tend to accompany a well-documented case. And not to worry – to be sure proper notice of a dispute is given, WIPO will still take care of sending written notice of a complaint to the respondent’s physical address. Now if only the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) would follow WIPO’s lead – NAF is still penalizing UDRP respondents for failing to fax or mail hard copies of responsive papers and all exhibits for receipt by the forum on the due date.

Retroactive “Bad Faith” in Recent UDRP Decisions

MelissaA — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:01:51 +0000

Five UDRP decisions may signal a surprising trend. Following a position first espoused by M. Scott Donahey earlier this year, yet another UDRP panelist recently opined in WIPO Case No. D2009-1278, that “[t]here seems no reason in logic or in principle why the availability of redress [under the UDRP] should be limited to situations where bad faith is present at the time of acquisition of the domain name.” Of course, for most of the past decade, the basis for that position was the UDRP, itself, which by its plain language requires some showing of “registration and use in bad faith” – in contrast to United States federal trademark laws that only require evidence of bad faith use, like the Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act (ACPA). In view of these recent decisions, it may be more likely for a registrant to be found to violate the UDRP based on a subsequent use (or non-use) of a domain name, even where the complainant does not allege that the domain name was actually registered in bad faith.

WIPO Pushes the Accelerator on the UDRP

melissa — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:40:54 +0000

WIPO has just announced that it will launch a fast track option for the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which will likely become available in the first few months of 2010. The “fast track” is meant to give trademark owners and other complainants an opportunity to expedite the decision process for relatively straightforward cases. The new process will also be cheaper than a full proceeding, although WIPO has not yet published the fee schedule. A UDRP proceeding filed with WIPO currently takes from 45-90 days, from commencement to decision, and costs $1,500 for up to 5 domain names (single panelist).

Employer Alert – Put it in Writing!

melissa — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:26:00 +0000

If you are in New York State and have – or plan to have – employees working for you – now is the time to verify that your new hire documents are fully up-to-date. Among other things, starting on October 26, 2009, all New York employers are required to to provide new hires with written notice of their (1) regular rate of pay, (2) regular pay date and (3) for non-exempt employees, the exact hourly overtime rate they will be paid for any hours worked over 40 hours in the company’s normal payroll-week. An acknowledgment of this notice has to be signed by the new employee and kept on file. Failure to comply with these new record-keeping requirements risks exposure to civil penalties in an audit.

ICANN Virtually Eliminates Domain Tasting

Brett — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:42:04 +0000

ICANN (The Internet Corporation For Assigned Name and Numbers) released its first official report on domain deletions since implementing a new series of grace period policies last July. In an effort to discourage domain tasting, the regulatory body eliminated the five day grace period on deletions, forcing registrants to pay ICANN fees on all registration domains.

The new policy has effective reduced monthly domain deletions from over 15 million to a small fraction of the volume today. Speculators were profiting from the practice by parking registered domains and deleting all those that didn’t generate sufficient pay per click revenue.

New ICANN President Rod Beckstrom praised the announcement as part of the organization’s new “multi stakeholder model” which incorporates feedback from firms, consumers and academics in coordinating policy.

ICANN CEO Goes Global

Brett — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:45:21 +0000

After the appointment of new ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom, the organization appears to be focusing on the development of new gTLDs, including native character domains. In his first message as head of the organization, Beckstrom focused on the importance of “native” Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) to help facilitate commerce in developing nations such as Russia: hello .рф, goodbye .ru.

A Paper-Free eUDRP

Brett — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:06:57 +0000

A collaboration between the World Intellectual Property Organization and ICANN aims to streamline the Uniform Domain Dispute Resolution Policy by introducing paperless “eURDP” filings. Advocates for reform of the process cite the difficulty of delivering hard, paper copies of complaints to global domain owners. While the proposal is in review stage, make sure to check your inboxes: UDRP is headed to PDF and the acronyms keep on rolling.