Data in the newest issue (Q4 2025) of GigaLaw’s Domain Dispute Digest show shows that the number of decisions across all five service providers for the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) decreased (very slightly) in 2025.
But the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported a record number of cases filed in 2025 – something that the leading provider of services under the UDRP said “show[s] the continued importance of” the UDRP “as a vital part of trademark owners’ online brand protection toolkit.”
What explains the discrepancy?
First, although WIPO is the busiest of the UDRP service providers, the others combined account for about 44 percent of decisions published last year. In other words, while WIPO is a good indicator of domain name dispute activity, it is not the only data point.
Second, whereas WIPO reports on cases filed, the numbers in GigaLaw’s Domain Dispute Digest represent decisions. As a result, there are some differences related to timing (given that a filed case typically results in a decision about two months later) and outcome (given that, as reported in the Digest, more than 8 percent of all UDRP cases are terminated, usually as the result of a settlement and never reach a decision).
Third, WIPO reports on domain name disputes for all of the policies it handles – which include many applicable to various country-code top-level domain names that have not adopted the UDRP – but the Digest is focused only on the UDRP and the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS).
Finally, and this is not related to any differences between WIPO’s data and the numbers in this Digest, it is interesting to note that there was a significant drop in the number of domain names in UDRP decisions last year, from 16,909 to 13,739. However, this data point was likely skewed by a number of especially large UDRP cases in 2024 as well as the increasing difficulty of identifying the underlying registrants of domain name (and, therefore, the ability consolidate them in single complaints) given the lack of access to registrant data.
Regardless of these issues, the prevailing theme is clear: The UDRP remains an important tool (indeed, it is the most important tool) that is frequently used by trademark owners worldwide, across all industries to deal with all sorts of cybersquatting issues.
As for the fourth quarter of 2025, some interesting highlights include:
.ai domain names continue to appear with increasing frequency in UDRP decisions, which is not surprising given that the ccTLD for Anguilla coincidentally corresponds to the popular acronym for “artificial intelligence.”
Two unusual gTLDs appeared in the list of most common top-level domain names in UDRP cases: .cyou and .qpon – but that’s largely because of one case, filed by Empower Annuity Insurance, that included 66 .cyou and 62 .qpon domain names.
A number of trademark owners that have not previously been very active in UDRP proceedings are now among the top filers, including Empower, ADM and Degussa, showing that cybersquatters don’t discriminate based on industry.
Read more in the newest issue (Q4 2025) of GigaLaw’s Domain Dispute Digest.
