I had the privilege of serving with Scott Donahey for many years as a domain name panelist at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), until Scott’s recent retirement. In this interview, I talk with him about his groundbreaking role in writing the decision for the very first case ever filed under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), in 1999.
Today, of course, the UDRP is well-known as the most common way for trademark owners to take on cybersquatters. But in 1999, it was a brand new policy without a track record, so Scott’s task was substantial.
In writing the first decision, Scott told me that he wanted “to give people a feel of why it made sense to use the UDRP… rather than go to court… and spend a lot of money.”
Interestingly, the first case — filed by World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., for the domain name <worldwrestlingfederation.com> — presented a number of issues that would arise again and again in tens of thousands of UDRP decisions over the years. For example, the registrant of the domain name was not using it in connection with an active website, he tried to sell it (for $1,000) to the trademark owner, and he failed to submit a response.
“It was a very easy decision,” Scott said.
In our conversation, Scott also tells me how he was picked by Francis Gurry (who would go on to become director general at WIPO) as the panelist for the first UDRP case and how he tried to explain the importance of the UDRP in writing his first decision.
As we discuss, Scott was no stranger to intellectual property arbitration, having worked for decades on international disputes involving hundreds of millions of dollars. And he would go on to write hundreds of decisions under the UDRP.
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