Only halfway through the year, the number of domain name disputes at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has already surpassed the full-year totals we were accustomed to seeing until recently. The 2023 total is on track to more than double the 3,074 domain name cases that WIPO handled in 2017, which, at the time, was already a record.
Details are available in the newest issue of GigaLaw’s Domain Dispute Digest (Q2 2023) and in an accompanying video.
Those numbers (which only tell part of the story, because WIPO is not the only UDRP service provider, and also because WIPO handles country-code domain name disputes outside of the UDRP) are consistent with a trend that started 10 years ago. But the 2023 surge is greater than anything we’ve seen before.
Indeed, all of the active UDRP service providers are experiencing bigger caseloads, with increases ranging from about 6 percent (at WIPO) to 330 precent (at the Canadian International Internet Dispute Resolution Centre) in the number of domain names in reported UDRP decisions this quarter versus the first quarter of the year.
As usual, I think the increases are the result of a number of factors, including:
an overall growth in domain name registrations (VeriSign’s Domain Name Industry Brief most recently reported a 4 percent rise);
more nefarious types of cybersquatting activities (my clients have taken action on a greater number of phishing attempts and “tech support scams”); and
a greater awareness of the UDRP by companies of all sizes
Interestingly, the lists of most active trademark owners in UDRP cases has not changed significantly from previous quarterly issues of GigaLaw’s Domain Dispute Digest, although Charter Communications is a newcomer. This consistency tells me that trademark owners filing the most UDRP cases find the policy to be an effective way to deal with the ongoing problem of cybersquatting.
Finally, while .com domain names continue to dominate UDRP decisions (accounting for about 85 percent of the total), this quarter saw 96 top-level domains (TLDs) appear in UDRP decisions. The Digest includes the top 10, but a wide variety of TLDs round out the list, including .xyz (24 domains), .cam (a .com lookalike, with 4 domains) .international (the longest TLD on the list, with 3 domain names), and 51 others that appeared only once (from .africa to .zone).
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