September 12, 2006; 07:44 AM Sequitur IPS launches today with a brand new service offering which
focuses upon one thing and one thing only: representing the parties to
domain name arbitration proceedings, whether they are those making
allegations of cyber-squatting (known as complainants) or those accused
of cyber-squatting (known as respondents).
Sequitur IPS
Principal Hagit Ben-Artzi hopes to bring expert representation to
parties to the proceedings who might otherwise be unrepresented. “The
fact is,” she says, “that a represented party will usually win a case
against an unrepresented party. We aim to provide the same quality of
advice and representation that you would get from a major international
law firm or an intellectual property boutique, but at a fraction of the
cost.”
Domain name disputes arise where one person registers a
domain name but another has, or claims to have, rights in that domain
name. Commonly, the rights asserted are registered trade mark rights,
but they can also be unregistered rights. Domain name disputes have
rarely been out of the headlines in recent months, with celebrities
ranging from Wayne Rooney to Damien Hirst reportedly going after
cyber-squatters.
Cyber-squatting disputes are nothing new. The
main set of rules governing domain name arbitration – the Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy or UDRP for short – was first
introduced back in 1999. However, in the years since the introduction
of the UDRP, the volume of domain name disputes has increased
dramatically.
The two main forums for the determination of
UDRP disputes are the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO)
based in Switzerland and the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) based in
the USA. In January 2006 WIPO reported a 20% increase in the number of
domain name cases filed in 2005 as compared to 2004. In 2005, a total
of 1,456 domain name cases were filed. NAF reported an even bigger
rise, handling 25% more domain dispute cases in 2005 compared to 2004,
bringing its annual total to 1,369.
You can visit the Sequitur IPS’s domain name disputes website at http://www.sequitur-ips.com for more information.
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