The Freename Forum

Domain name lawyer Doug Isenberg presents his statistical report on UDRP decisions for the second quarter of 2024. The upward curve in the number of UDRP proceedings flattens out for the first time in ten years.

‘Gigalaw's Domain Dispute Digest Second Quarter 2024’ is a 15-page report on the development of UDRP proceedings over the past three months. Doug Isenberg analysed the resolved UDRP proceedings of all five ICANN-accredited dispute resolution bodies in April, May and June 2024. The core finding of his report is that domain name disputes are subsiding - but only a little, and probably not for long.

The comparison that Isenberg carries out is based on the same quarter of the previous year. For Q2 2024, he counts 2,132 UDRP decisions (compared to 2,087 in Q2 2023 and 1,786 in Q2 2022), in which 4,941 domains were disputed (compared to 4,272 in Q2 2023 and 3,053 in Q2 2022). This represents an increase of 2.16 per cent in decisions and 15.66 per cent in domains compared to Q2 2023. Since a slump in 2013, the number of proceedings has continued to rise steadily. The momentum is now slowing down and the numbers are no longer rising rapidly. In 95.99 per cent of cases, 4,743 domains were transferred; 2.47 per cent (122 domains) of complaints were rejected and 1.54 per cent (76 domains) were cancelled. Of the five accredited dispute resolution bodies, WIPO is in first place with 1,204 decisions (1,195 in Q2 2023), ahead of the Forum with 673 decisions (609 in Q2 2023). It is followed by the Czech CAC with 202 decisions (210 in Q2 2023), the Arab Centre for Domain Name Dispute Resolution (ADNDRC) with 28 cases (60 in Q2 2023) and the Canadian CIIDRC with 25 decisions (13 in Q2 2023). It also shows that WIPO decides on transfer in 95.33 per cent of cases; the rate is significantly higher at the Forum (96.39 per cent), highest at the CAC (98.53 per cent); ADNDRC comes in at an even 94 per cent and opponents fare best at the CIIDRC, where the transfer rate is 92.86 per cent.

In his Digest, Isenberg provides further information on the distribution of procedures among the different endings, with .com leading among the gTLDs with 3,819 domains, followed by .net with 247 domains. Among the ccTLDs, the Colombian .co is ahead with 41 domains, followed by .ai with 23 domains and .cc with 17 domains. The most active complainants are listed by cases and domains: Financial services provider Morgan Stanley is ahead with 48 cases, while shoe manufacturer Thursday Boot Company is ahead with 158 domains. Isenberg goes on to look at the figures for URS proceedings, the number of which has increased compared to Q2 2023: 42 decisions on 44 domains in Q2 2023 developed into 55 decisions on 59 domains in Q2 2024. However, if you compare the current figures with Q1 2024 (68 decisions for 111 domains), the number of URS proceedings decreases significantly. The quarterly report ends with a comprehensive glossary that briefly explains the key terms in connection with the UDRP procedure.

The 15-page ‘Gigalaw Domain Dispute Digest Q2/2024’ provides a quick, clear and comprehensible overview of the development of UDRP and USR proceedings in the second quarter of this year compared to the second quarter of the previous year. We recommend reading it.

You can download the ‘Gigalaw Domain Dispute Digest Q2/2024’ here:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... digest.pdf

Domain name lawyer Doug Isenberg presents his statistical report on UDRP decisions for the third quarter of 2024. The increase in the number of UDRP proceedings is declining slightly for the first time in ten years.

‘Gigalaw's Domain Dispute Digest Third Quarter 2024’ is a 15-page report on the development of UDRP proceedings over the past three months. Doug Isenberg analysed the resolved UDRP proceedings of all five ICANN-accredited dispute resolution bodies in July, August and September 2024. The key finding of his report is that domain name disputes are continuing to subside - but only slightly and probably not for long. Isenberg's comparison is based on the same quarter of the previous year. He counts a total of 1,982 UDRP decisions (compared to 2,128 in Q3 2023 and 2,030 in Q3 2022), in which 3,695 domains were disputed (compared to 4,704 in Q3 2023 and 3,969 in Q3 2022). This represents a decrease of 6.86 per cent in decisions and 27.31 per cent in domains compared to Q3 2023. Since a slump in 2013, the number of proceedings has thus risen continuously and picked up speed, which is now slowing down somewhat. A total of 3,565 domains were transferred in 96.48 per cent of cases; 2.60 per cent (96 domains) of complaints were rejected and 0.92 per cent (34 domains) were cancelled. Of the five accredited dispute resolution bodies, WIPO is in first place with 1,175 decisions (1,178 in Q3 2023), ahead of Forum with 555 decisions (677 in Q3 2023). It is followed by the Czech CAC with 201 decisions (217 in Q3 2023), the Arab Centre for Domain Name Dispute Resolution (ADNDRC) with 35 cases (48 in Q3 2023) and, bringing up the rear, the Canadian CIIDRC with 16 decisions (8 in Q3 2023). It can also be seen that WIPO decides on transfer in 96.37 per cent of cases; the rate is significantly higher at Forum (97.43 per cent). At the CAC, the figure is 96.48 per cent, ADNDRC comes in at 90.65 per cent (and the respondents thus fare best there), while at the CIIDRC the transfer rate is 95.65 per cent.

In his digest, Isenberg provides further information on the distribution of the proceedings among the different domain endings, with .com naturally leading among the gTLDs with 2,558 domains, followed by .shop with 264 domains, which has overtaken .net (144 domains). Among the ccTLDs, the Colombian .co with 33 domains is ahead of .ai (Anguilla) with 24 domains and .cc (Cocos Islands) with 15 domains. The most active complainants are listed by cases and domains: French retail and wholesale group Carrefour is ahead with 40 cases, while Swedish brick manufacturer Lego is ahead with a total of 83 domains. Isenberg goes on to look at the figures for URS proceedings, the number of which has increased compared to Q3 2023: 35 decisions on 58 domains in Q3 2023 developed into 47 decisions on 92 domains in Q3 2024. The quarterly report ends with an extensive glossary that briefly explains the key terms in connection with the UDRP procedure.

Isenberg assumes that the decline in decisions in Q3 2024 is mainly due to lower budgets for the prosecution of trademark infringements by trademark owners due to the 2024 election year. He refers to feedback from a representative of a UDRP service provider. In any case, the assumption that there is less cybersquatting is wrong. Isenberg estimates that 2024 will ultimately end with roughly the same figures for procedures and domains as 2023, meaning that there will be no decline. He also assumes that, as his statistics only take into account decided cases, more cases will end with an amicable settlement - the rate is now around 15 per cent. The 15-page ‘Gigalaw Domain Dispute Digest Q3/2024’ provides a quick, clear and comprehensible overview of the development of UDRP and URS proceedings in the third quarter of this year compared to the third quarter of the previous year. We recommend reading it.

You can download the ‘Gigalaw Domain Dispute Digest Q3/2024’ here:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... ute-digest

Domain name lawyer Doug Isenberg presents his statistical report on UDRP decisions for the year and the fourth quarter of 2024. The number of UDRP proceedings continues to rise.

“Gigalaw's Domain Dispute Digest Fourth Quarter, 2024” is a 16-page report on the development of UDRP proceedings in the last three months of last year and the development over the entire year 2024. Doug Isenberg analyzed the decided UDRP proceedings of all five ICANN-accredited dispute resolution bodies (WIPO, Forum, CAC, ADNDRC and CIIDRC). The core finding of his report is that domain name disputes under the UDRP increased by 3.1% compared to the previous year. This means that the number of proceedings has continued to rise since the decline in 2013, but the curve is slowly flattening out.

Isenberg first compares the trend for 2024 as a whole and compares it with the figures from 2023. He arrives at 8,484 decisions in 2024 compared to 8,230 in 2023 (an increase of 3.1 percent). While there was an increase in the number of proceedings, the number of domains fell from 17,448 in 2023 to 16,909 in 2024 (a decrease of 3.1%). For WIPO, he noted an increase of 6.24 percent in decisions, while the Forum had 2.17 percent fewer decisions. The Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) delivered 3.61% more decisions, while the ADNDRC decided 21.33% fewer cases. The Canadian CIIDRC recorded a storm in a teacup, with the number of decisions increasing by 88.57 percent to a total of 16. The figures for WIPO appear to contradict the information provided by WIPO itself: As reported last week, WIPO conceded a slight decrease of 24 proceedings compared to the previous year (from 6,192 proceedings to 6,168). Isenberg explains this by saying that the WIPO figures also include ccTLDs that have not adopted the UDRP, while he only takes into account decisions under the UDRP (but those of all five UDRP providers approved by ICANN).

Isenberg's quarterly comparison is based on the same quarter of the previous year (Q4/2023). In total, he counts 2,169 UDRP decisions for 3,635 domains in Q4 2024, compared to 1,989 decisions for 4,835 domains in 2023. Compared to Q4 2023, this represents an increase of 9.05% in decisions and a decrease of 24.82% in domains. For 95.19% of the total of 3,535 domains in dispute in UDRP proceedings, the decision was “transfer”, which concerns 3,460 domains. In 3.58 percent (130 domains) the transfer request was rejected and in 1.24 percent (45 domains) the proceedings were terminated. In 87.04 percent of the proceedings, only one domain was involved, while 6.09 percent involved two domains. The proportion decreases the more domains are involved. The most extensive proceeding was a WWE dispute over 113 domains, which was brought before the Forum. The French retail company Carrefour contested the most, namely 46 proceedings involving 170 domains.

For the first time, Isenberg's Digest also includes proceedings that were terminated prematurely, which account for 12.6 percent or 524 domains. In percentage terms, the CIIDRC is in the lead here with 23.53 percent, i.e. 4 out of 17 domains, followed by the CAC with 19.75 percent, i.e. 62 out of 314 domains affected. From his own experience, Isenberg assumes that the proceedings that are terminated early are predominantly based on amicable settlements that do not necessarily result in a transfer. And Isenberg notes a significant increase in URS proceedings: compared to Q4 2023, there was an increase of 41.89 percent to 43 URS decisions and 80 domains (40 percent more than in the same quarter last year). Over the course of 2024, URS proceedings increased by 14.52% and the domains involved by 19.93%. 90.12 percent (73 domains) were suspended, and in 9.88 percent of cases, comprising 8 domains, the URS complaint was rejected. While there has been a significant increase in URS cases, the actual numbers remain low. Isenberg concludes that the procedure remains unpopular and is still not applicable to .com domains.

The 16-page “Gigalaw Domain Dispute Digest, Q4/2024” provides a quick, clear and comprehensible overview of the development of UDRP and URS proceedings in the fourth quarter and throughout 2024. As always, we recommend reading it.

You can download the “Gigalaw Domain Dispute Digest Q4/2024” here:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... digest.pdf