Website reviews

Following on from the successful attempt by the C S Lewis estate to reclaim the domain www.narnia.mobi from an Edinburgh couple and their 11 year old son, the web review turns its attention to domain name dispute resolution.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

www.icann.org/udrp

As becomes apparent on a first reading of this site, there are a number of different policies which apply to various types of disputes between registrants and third parties over the registration and use of domain names. For each of them there are approved dispute-resolution service providers for the given policy. Above all of these sits the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) which, as its name suggests, applies to disputes concerning all generic Top Level Domains (or gTLDs). Generic Top Level Domains are the .com, .net, .info, .mobi etc extensions – those which are not country specific.

For such an important website, it does look a little amateur. There is nothing ragged or confusing about the layout or anything particularly wrong with it, but it just doesn’t have the polish that one expects from the websites of large (and even small) organisations nowadays.

The lion’s share of the site is given over to the policies themselves and rules attaching to the policies. There then follow details of proceedings brought under these various policies, including a statistical summary of such proceedings, and links to the decisions on the websites of the dispute resolution service providers.

Those service providers are the organisations which take the decisions on the disputes which arise on domain names. The website here also provides details on the approval process for becoming such a provider.

World Intellectual Property Organization

www.wipo.int

One such dispute resolution service provider (in fact the principal provider) is the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) – a specialised agency of the United Nations. WIPO is “dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system”.

The website is very well laid out and is well organised. This is necessary due to the large volume of information covered by the website. Obviously, the organisation deals with many more intellectual property issues than just domain names. However, domain name decisions are one of the titles listed under the “Most Requested” heading – which is a very useful feature.

Again, the website offers resources, cases, decisions, rules, details of fees, brief biographical details of the panellists, and statistical information. The website is obviously updated very quickly as the narnia.mobi decision was available almost immediately – you can read it on http://tinyurl. com/68syjc .

In addition to gTLD disputes, WIPO also considers ccTLD disputes (country code top level domains), although not for the .uk domains.

Nominet UK

www.nominet.org.uk

Nominet is the internet registry for .uk domain names. Among other features on an excellent website, you will find details of their very own (usually free of charge) dispute resolution service. This involves the possibility of mediation, and a two-stage decision making process (first instance and appeal) conducted by independent experts.

The presentation of the website is little short of immaculate. Unlike some other sites, there is no assumption that the user is familiar with the jargon and acronyms common to the field. This is entirely appropriate as, though it may seem obvious to state, not everyone with a website is some kind of computer geek – and this is one website which grasps that point.

For example, under the main heading “Disputes/Legal”, as well as having a further selection of subheadings, the front page is divided into three main categories: “I am interested in ...”; “tell me about …” and “tools …” – which are also distinguished by a useful yet subtle colour-coding scheme.

Of some interest are the pages drawing attention to the relevant legal issues, together with decisions made by the dispute resolution service, and the (to date) eight court cases which Nominet UK has been directly involved in. Further, Nominet have collected together information about a selection of domain name cases from outwith their own direct control or involvement.

Although it does not aim to do so, it serves as a very useful introduction to the law on domain name disputes in general.

Further collections of decisions relating to domain name disputes can be found on the Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions (www.internetlibrary. com/topics/ domain_name.cfm) and National Arbitration Forum (http://domains.adrforum.com/ decision.aspx) websites.

Are you a Scots law blogger? Or do you know of one? Please let me know and the site(s) may feature in a future web review.