NAF sees rise in UDRP cases
The National Arbitration Forum saw a steep increase in the number of cybersquatting complaints filed under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy last year.
According to a NAF announcement, 2,177 cases were filed in 2010, up 24% on the previous year.
That seems to be roughly in line with the experience of the World Intellectual Property Organization, which recently reported a 28% increase in UDRP complaints to 2,696 last year.
On that basis, it appears that WIPO has ever so slightly widened the market share gap between itself and NAF.
Between 1999 and the end of last year, NAF had handled 15,763 domain disputes, compared to WIPO’s over 20,000.
A basic UDRP filing covering a few domain names with a single panelist presiding costs about $1,500 with both providers, not including lawyers’ fees and other expenses.
With roughly 35,000 complaints filed to date, we can estimate that the revenue from UDRP flowing to WIPO and NAF together has been in the ball park of $50 million in slightly over 11 years.
Lorem ipsum
Kevin,
As the old song goes, “It ain’t the meat, it’s the motion.” Drawing meaning from the number of UDRP filings is impossible without considering the context.
Are 35,000 filings in a dozen years a lot? A little? How about when compared to the more than 200 million registrations?
And, then, how many are won by the filer? By the registrant? And how many are overturned on appeal?
Perhaps more reporting can be done. Maybe you could crowd source it from among those who have participated, on either side, in a UDRP.
One thing that is clear is the value of the UDRP process to the vendors who consider them.
Cheers.
It’s true that the numbers have more meaning in context, but I would say they have value in isolation too, if only to make some educated guesses about how much money is flowing through the system.
I did note in my earlier piece on WIPO that 20,000 cases is a “vanishingly small” slice of the total domain installed base.
Perhaps mapping the growth of UDRP filings to the growth of the DNS would be useful? I’ll break out Excel and give it a whack. Cheers 🙂
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