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