Overview of fees for UDRP proceedings

No matter how good your domain strategy is, the odd UDRP procedure is often inevitable. We have taken a look at the fees charged by the ICANN-accredited arbitration tribunals for domain disputes that are predominantly used in practice.

The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy Procedure (UDRP) was created in 1999 to resolve domain disputes quickly and relatively cheaply. 97 per cent of all UDRP disputes are brought before the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) or the National Arbitration Forum (NAF). The costs of UDRP proceedings vary depending on where you apply for them. We provide an overview of the costs for the relevant providers.

WIPO:

WIPO distinguishes between proceedings with one panellist and proceedings with three panellists. In both categories, the costs are broken down again according to the number of domains in dispute. If one panellist is involved in the case, this leads to costs of US$ 1,500 for up to five domains, of which US$ 1,000 goes to the panellist and US$ 500 to WIPO. For six to ten domains, the costs are US$ 2,000 (US$ 1,300 to US$ 700), and for more than ten domains, the costs incurred will be decided in consultation with WIPO. In the case of a three-person panel, up to five domains will incur costs of US$ 4,000, with the chair of the panel receiving US$ 1,500, the assessors US$ 1,000 each and WIPO US$ 1,250. For six to ten domains, costs of US$ 5,000 are incurred (US$ 1,750 at twice US$ 1,000 and US$ 1,250 for WIPO). And as expected, the costs for more than ten domains will be decided in consultation with WIPO.

https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/fees/

The Forum:

The Forum also differentiates between single and triple panels and the number of disputed domains. The UDRP procedure for one to two domains incurs costs of US$ 1,330 for a single panel and US$ 2,660 for a panel of three. The prices then increase in several stages: US$ 1,480 or US$ 2,960 for three to five domains, US$ 1,830 or US$ 3,660 for six to ten domains and US$ 2,280 or US$ 4,560 for eleven to 15 domains. If there is a dispute over more than 15 domains, The Forum will be contacted for a fee quote. A division of the amounts between the panellists and the Forum is not shown. For other proceedings, such as the USR or usNDP proceedings, other figures are quoted.

https://www.adrforum.com/domain-dispute/resources

CAC:

In addition to WIPO and The Forum, there are other accredited dispute resolution bodies for UDRP cases: the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC), the Arab Center for Domain Name Dispute Resolution (ACDNDR) and the Czech Arbitration Court (CAC). We took a look at the current procedural fees for the latter. The scale of fees at the CAC is more detailed and ranges from one to five domains to six to ten and then up to 41 to 50 domains in increments of ten. After that, it says: "51 domain names or more in one or more proceedi[n]gs within one calendar year" is decided after consultation with CAC. The presentation of the fee distribution is also differentiated. The prices are stated in euros: A procedure with up to five domains then costs EUR 800 for a single panellist and EUR 2,600 for a panel of three. The prices then rise continuously with the number of domains in dispute.

The costs of a UDRP procedure are therefore quite manageable in terms of the procedural fees. However, you must be aware that the procedural fees alone are not enough: the specialised lawyer (who should be consulted) also needs to be paid.

https://udrp.adr.eu/fees