Domain Incite reports during the last 20 years, trademark owners have spent upwards of $360 million on UDRP cases, an intellectual property trade group reported.
A European body representing trademark owners know as Marques believes that figure is a “conservative” estimate, the report said.
Filing a UDRP complaint is not a cheap process, Domain Incite reports, providing an example the $5,000 price tag for each complaint. In addition, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) charges at least $1,500 per case, with trademark owners paying other fees including paying lawyers to draft the complaints.
In all, the report continues, WIPO has been paid at least $63.8 million in filing fees to date since the UDRP were written back in 1998.
In a letter last week from Marques Managing Director Nick Woods and council members to ICANN, the group said: “This lowest-case estimate of $360m is a very significant financial burden. Registrants, on the other hand, pay only for their own defence, if any. They do not pay damages, or even contribute to the provider fees, if they lose – which across the five active panel providers appears to be majority of the time,” Domain Incite reported.
Marques wants ICANN to create an “independent expert group” outside of the usual Policy Development Process, the report said, to highlight “priority issues and possible solutions” for the PDP to consider.
The group, Marques believes should be comprised of a small number of trademark interests, registries and registrars and registrant rights groups. It wants WIPO to chair it, Domain Incite reports.
It also wants ICANN to coordinate UDRP providers in the creation of a unified set of data on UDRP cases processed to date, to help with future reform discussions, the report said.
Photo:
AP / Tim Hales, FILE
