WIPO Paperless Process Proposal

WIPO, which manages domain disputes on behalf of the gTLDs and a lot of the ccTLDs, has put forward a proposal to ICANN for a paperless UDRP process.

In a very interesting and insightful article on CircleID George Kirikos looks at the implications of such a process. If you have an interest in domains then you really should read both what he has to say and the details of the proposal itself.

Nominet made changes to their dispute policy a few months ago and that met with quite a bit of criticism, though I don’t think they had even mooted going purely electronic.

By Michele Neylon

Michele is founder and managing director of Irish domain registrar and hosting company Blacknight. Michele has been deeply involved in domain and internet policy discussions for more than a decade. He also co-hosts the Technology.ie podcast.

4 comments

  1. Hi Michele,
    The WIPO proposal looks similar to the process changes made by Nominet earlier this year. The filing of complaints, responses and all associated documents is done electronically, however, it is not an entirely paperless system. The initial paper recorded delivery notification to the registrant rather than being the actual details of the complaint, is simply notification that a complaint has been made with instructions on how to log into an online service to administer the complaint. This simply means that the volume of post is massively reduced to a single item with everything thereafter being electronic.
    We are finding our new system to be very effective at improving the administration of the process.
    Matt

  2. Matt

    The problem with a lot of these “paperless” systems is that they rely on the email contact details being accurate, which in many cases they aren’t

    Michele

  3. True, which is why the Nominet process (and I think the WIPO proposal) sends notification of the complaint by both email and post. Once contact is established all future comms are then carried out by email.
    From our perspective once we receive a complaint, notification is sent to the registrant by all known means: that includes email to all email addresses associated with the account and a recorded delivery letter to all current addresses associated with the account. What more can be done? Also remember that the contract of registration requires all contact details to be kept up to date.

    Matt

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