Inside the Forum: The GigaLaw Interview

Amid an ongoing surge in domain name disputes under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), Doug Isenberg of GigaLaw interviews Renee Fossen, director of arbitration at the Forum.

Formerly known as the National Arbitration Forum, the Forum is one of the leading providers of domain name dispute services, including under the UDRP.

In this video, Doug and Renee discuss why trademark owners filed a record number of cybersquatting cases at the Forum in 2020, which saw a 16 percent increase in disputes over the previous year.

Despite the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, “we had the busiest filing year we’ve ever had since the implementation of the UDRP,” Renee tells Doug. “I think that’s because some of those industries weren’t impacted as much as we thought they would be. We did see a decrease in entertainment industries, fashion, travel. But we saw an increase in filings in financial services, pharmaceuticals and insurance areas.”

Another explanation for the increased number of UDRP filings, Renee tells Doug: “The registrations of domain names likely increased during that time period as well, and there were times where maybe those cybersquatters had more time to actually do their thing and also more time for attorneys to actually track that stuff down and be able to remedy it through the UDRP.”

To learn more about how the Forum operates, the services it offers, and the resources it provides for both trademark owners and domain name registrants, watch the entire interview below (running time: 30:45) or on the GigaLaw YouTube channel.