Facebook Prevails in First Uniform Rapid Suspension System Case Administered by National Arbitration Forum

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- http://domains.adrforum.com – The National Arbitration Forum (Forum), an international provider of dispute resolution services, today announced that popular social networking service Facebook, represented by attorney David Taylor of Hogan Lovells, was the first brand owner to file a dispute under the new Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS). The URS is a new dispute resolution mechanism designed to quickly suspend domain names that are infringing on a brand's trademarks. The Forum is approved by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide domain name dispute resolution services under policies like the URS.

The complaint over <facebok.pw> was filed on August 21, 2013, using the Forum's state of the art online filing platform and portal. The URS is a less expensive version of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy because the Forum was able to automate many of the processing steps.

"As the first URS Provider, handling the first URS complaint, the pressure was on to make sure the technology was working as expected and the new procedure was followed accurately." said Kristine Dorrain, National Arbitration Forum's Director of Internet and IP Services. The first URS Determination was issued on September 27, 2013. The domain name has been suspended, as ordered by the Examiner, and now resolves to a site hosted by the Forum.

UDRP and URS cases filed with the National Arbitration Forum are heard and decided by Dispute Resolution Panelists who specialize in domain name, trademark, copyright and/or e-commerce law. Panelists are located around the world and can conduct proceedings in many different languages.

"After so many years of process development since 2009 and the Implementation Recommendation Team report where the URS was proposed it is great to finally see the first URS complaint and decision in action," said David Taylor, attorney for Facebook.  "The URS may not be appropriate in all circumstances; it remains a complement to the UDRP. Much depends upon whether you want to manage the domain name going forward in your portfolio or not or get it suspended from the DNS."

While the URS was designed to deal with infringement in the top level domains delegated under ICANN's new generic top level domain (gTLD) program, Facebook was able to file this complaint because the domain name at issue, <facebok.pw>, was registered in the country-code top level domain (ccTLD), .pw, which had independently adopted the URS when it was first launched. The .pw registry is being run by the Professional Web, which adopted the URS in May of this year.

"We are delighted that .pw has been the first TLD to adopt the URS and provide users with faster and greater brand protection," said Sandeep Ramchandani, Business Head of the Professional Web .PW registry. "Our experience with the URS will help with providing valuable feedback to ICANN on the process, proving useful for the new gTLD rollout."

In conjunction with ICANN's new gTLD program, the Forum has drafted a model Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy for new gTLD Registries preparing for delegation that have neither the expertise nor the inclination to create and manage their own procedure.  The draft policy can be found at http://domains.adrforum.com and can be modified to the needs of a particular Registry's Sunrise period, including trademark requirements, community or geographic requirements, and charter or eligibility requirements. The Forum is also preparing to offer a Registration Eligibility policy (sometimes referred to as a Nexus or Charter Policy) that Registries can adopt, as needed. The Forum will provide SDRP and REDRP services for Registries for a moderate or no onboarding fee, depending on the circumstances. Interested Registries can contact the Forum at [email protected].

About the National Arbitration Forum

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, the National Arbitration Forum is an approved provider of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Since 1999, more than 22,000 domain name disputes worldwide have been filed through the National Arbitration Forum's state-of-the-art case management system. The Forum is also pleased to be one of three approved Providers for ICANN's Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure and the only approved Provider for ICANN's Registry Restrictions Dispute Resolution Procedure. For more information on the any of the policies and procedures mentioned here, including demonstrations of the URS technology and instructions for filing, please visit http://domains.adrforum.com.

SOURCE National Arbitration Forum