|
WIPO CASES HIT THE MARK AS 5000th DISPUTE RECEIVED
23rd May, 2003
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced that it received its 5,000th domain name case under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) this month.
The case itself was auspicious - according to WIPO, the British football club Tottenham Hotspur have issued a complaint against an alleged cybersquatter - from WIPO's website it looks as though the domain name in dispute may be tottenhamhotspur.com, currently registered to a company in Middlesex, UK. A decision is expected shortly.
The WIPO Arbitration Center states that it receives an average of 3 new UDRP cases each day, a rate which indicates that trade mark/domain name issues continue to be of importance. This average has dropped from a peak of 5 cases per day. While this means less cases for WIPO, the Organization does not seem to regret the reduction in
business:
"This trend is encouraging and indicates that the expedited on-line dispute resolution service has been effective in dissuading Internet pirates from hijacking names," said Francis Gurry, Assistant Director General of WIPO, the principal in charge of WIPO's work relating to domain names.
"This doesn't mean that our work is over - we must continue our efforts to ensure that the Internet becomes a secure market place for people to do business. Preventing abuse of intellectual property rights in a digital environment that is expanding by the day is a large part of that effort."
According to WIPO, its Arbitration Center website, where all of its decisions are published, has received over 30 million hits, indicating much interest in the UDRP phenomenon. Some of the most visited decisions are the famous Madonna, Sting and Julia Roberts cases. Madonna and Julia Roberts won their cases, whereas Sting was unsuccessful.
Details at: http://www.demys.net/news/2003/05/23_wi.htm
|
