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Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

The ICANN Initial Board has received a proposal for a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy for domain name registrars in the generic top level domains (gTLDs) -- .com, .net, and .org. This recommendation was submitted by the provisional Names Council of the Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO). In simplest form, the proposed Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy applies only to bad-faith/abusive domain name registrations (cybersquatting) on a mandatory basis, seeking to provide an efficient alternative mechanism to resolve such domain name disputes, but without precluding the parties' ability to litigate.

This page provides some background to the recommendation; posts links to the proposal as well as some relevant documents and commentary; and solicits the comments of the Internet community. The Board will consider the recommendations of the provisional Names Council at its Santiago meetings on August 25-26.

Background

At its meetings in Berlin, the ICANN Initial Board endorsed the principle of a uniform dispute resolution policy for gTLD registrars and referred to the DNSO the Final Report on the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process, which had been prepared by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and submitted to the ICANN Board. The WIPO Final Report addresses a number of topics, including uniform dispute resolution procedures for bad-faith/abusive domain name registrations (cybersquatting) in the gTLDs.

In response to the request of the ICANN Board for the recommendations of the DNSO on the WIPO Final Report's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy recommendations, the DNSO formed Working Group A to study the issue. Working Group A submitted its Final Report to the provisional Names Council of the DNSO on July 29, 1999. The provisional Names Council voted to send Working Group A's Final Report to the ICANN Board on August 3, 1999.

The ICANN Board intends to consider, and possibly take action on, the report of the provisional Names Council at its next meetings, in Santiago, Chile, on August 25-26.

ICANN actively solicits comments on the proposed policy from the members of the Internet community.

Proposed Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy for gTLD Registrars

• Final Report submitted by the provisional Names Council (August 3, 1999)
  • Transmittal letter from the provisional Names Council
  • Results of the vote of the provisional Names Council (or see vote archive)
  • WG-A's recommendations respecting the implementation of the WIPO dispute resolution process
  • Final Report of Working Group A
  • Dissenting opinions from the vote of the provisional Names Council
  • Comments to the Preliminary Report RFC and Final Report
  • Report on the formation of Working Group A
  • Personal comments of Jonathan Cohen, co-chair of Working Group A

• Final Report of the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process

• ICANN Board resolution the WIPO Final Report (May 27, 1999)

Public Comments

• How do I make comments on the proposed policy?

Comments should be sent to comment-udrp@icann.org.

• How do I read the comments that have been submitted?

The public comment archive can be found at http://www.icann.org/comments-mail/comment-udrp/current/maillist.html.

Additional Background Documents

• Comments of A. Michael Froomkin on the WIPO Final Report (May 19, 1999)