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First Cybersquatting Case under WIPO Process Just Concluded

Geneva, January 14, 2000
Press Releases PR/2000/204

The first case of an abusive registration of a domain name on the Internet was decided on Friday with the Administrative Panel ordering the registrant to hand over the domain name to the complainant. The US-based World Wrestling Federation (WWF) had brought the suit against a California resident who had registered the domain name www.worldwrestlingfederation.com and offered to sell it back, at significant profit, to the WWF three days later.

The WWF filed the case with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center under the new Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy applicable to generic top-level domains (.com, .net and .org) adopted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on August 26, 1999. This first complaint was filed on December 2, 1999, a day after the new system had taken effect. Five other domain names dispute cases have been filed with WIPO since January 2000 under the same procedure.

The ICANN policy establishes a uniform and mandatory administrative dispute-resolution system to address cases of bad faith, abusive registrations, also known as "cybersquatting." Using this system, panels of one or three experts, appointed by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, will apply streamlined, quick and cost-effective procedures to review claims and eliminate cases of clear abuse of trademark holders' rights, leaving the more complex cases to the courts. The WIPO Center's Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service has been established specifically to administer domain name disputes with the availability of electronic case filing facilities and a well developed case administration system. It was the first dispute resolution service provider accredited to administer disputes brought under the ICANN Policy and provides global, multi-lingual dispute administration services. Cases filed with the WIPO Center are, normally, expected to be decided within 45 days.

The first case concerned a domain registered with Melbourne IT, one of the first five registrars accredited by ICANN to accept registrations, in the .com, .net and .org generic top-level domains. The WWF alleged that the domain name in question was registered in bad faith by the registrant in abuse of the WWF's trademark. Although the complainant had the option of bringing a law suit in a U.S. court under the new Anti-Cybersquatting Act, it chose instead to use this cheaper and quicker administrative process.

The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center appointed Mr. Scott Donahey, a California-based intellectual property lawyer and trademark specialist, to handle the case. The decision concludes as follows:

"For all of the foregoing reasons, the Panel decides that the domain name registered by respondent is identical or confusingly similar to the trademark and service mark in which the complainant has rights, and that the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name, and that the respondent's domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. Accordingly, pursuant to paragraph 4, i of the Policy, the Panel requires that the registration of the domain name <worldwrestlingfederation.com> be transferred to the complainant."

Mr. Francis Gurry, Director of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center and WIPO Assistant Director General, welcomed the swift resolution of this first case. "The new procedure demonstrates the viability of a cost-effective and efficient alternative to court proceedings," he said. Mr. Gurry added "The nature of the WIPO dispute settlement system lends itself to the needs and requirements of today's dynamic market-place. The Internet holds immense potential for people to do business at any level and confidence in electronic commerce hinges on mutual respect of users' rights."

For further information see Press Release 186 or Press Release 100 or call the Media Relations and Public Affairs Section at WIPO:

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