Trademark holders are winning 80% of their disputes with domain name registrants.
If you have registered a domain name recently, you’ve most likely agreed to the terms of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which was adopted in 1999 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a pseudo-governmental/pseudo-corporate (but, in any event, highly political) organization created in September 1998 to manage how domain names are registered (that’s the short story). If a dispute arises about who owns (or should own) a domain name, the domain name registrant has agreed to submit to a mandatory administrative proceeding.
The good news (for holders of registered federal trademarks) is that trademark holders are winning 80% of their disputes with domain name registrants. The bad news (for small businesses) is that the cost of the administrative proceeding (not including legal fees) is at least $1500. As such, a “gray market” has arisen for cybersquatters who will gladly sell you a cybersquatted domain name for $1499. So small businesses who have had their trademarks registered as domain names by cybersquatters have three bad choices: 1) do nothing, 2) buy the domain name from the cybersquatter, or 3) pay at least $1500 to try to get the domain name back via UDRP arbitration. So if you haven’t registered your trademarks, you should. And if you haven’t registered domain names corresponding to each of your registered trademarks, you should.
http://www.icann.org/udrp/
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/fees/index.html
http://www.icannwatch.org/
[EDITOR’S NOTE: In the summer of 2025, Clocktower Intern Mark Magyar used artificial intelligence (AI) software to shorten over 100 Clocktower articles by 17%. The shortened articles are included as comments to the original ones. And 17 is the most random number (https://www.giantpeople.com/4497.html) (https://www.clocktowerlaw.com/5919.html).]
* Trademark Holders Are Winning 80% of Domain Name Disputes
If you’ve registered a domain name recently, you likely agreed to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). Adopted in 1999 by ICANN (a political blend of government and corporate interests), the UDRP requires registrants to submit to a mandatory proceeding if ownership is contested.
The good news for federal trademark holders: they win about 80% of disputes. The bad news for small businesses: proceedings cost at least $1,500 (before legal fees). This has fueled a “gray market” where cybersquatters offer to sell infringing domains for $1,499—cheaper than arbitration.
So small businesses face three lousy options:
Do nothing,
Pay the cybersquatter, or
Spend $1,500+ on UDRP arbitration.
The lesson is simple: register your trademarks and the matching domain names before someone else does.
Resources:
http://www.icann.org/udrp/
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/fees/index.html
http://www.icannwatch.org/