The number of domain name dispute filings has now risen for 10 consecutive years, as providers for cases under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) report ongoing enforcement efforts by trademark owners against cybersquatters.
Details are in the newest issue of GigaLaw’s Domain Dispute Digest for the fourth quarter of 2023.
As the Digest reports, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has said that its caseload (which includes decisions under a number of ccTLD policies in addition to the UDRP) has risen 68 percent since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Digest includes data from all of the active UDRP service providers, which collectively saw a spike of more than 49 percent in the number of disputed domain names in decisions during the last quarter of the year.
While WIPO said that, in 2023, “[c]ases filed covered nearly every industry, with the top sectors being banking and finance, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, Internet and IT, and retail,” the Digest includes details about the most active trademark owners, including those from other industries, such as steel, social media, tobacco, airline, clothing, footwear, apparel, and many more.
Other highlights from the Digest:
More than 95 percent of UDRP cases resulted in decisions transferring disputed domain names to the trademark owners who filed the complaints.
The largest case, filed by shoe manufacturer and retailer C. & J. Clark International from the UK, resulted in a decision ordering the transfer of 430 domain names.
More than 84 percent of all UDRP cases involve only a single domain name, and fewer than 1 percent include more than 10 domain names.
After .com, the most common top-level domains (TLDs) in UDRP decisions are .net, .shop, .org, .online, .store, .info, .site, .top, and .vip.
For all of the details, download a copy of the Digest.
