By Derek Iwasiuk DomainInformer.com February 20, 2007
The National Arbitration Forum reports that their domain name disputes
resolutions increased by 21% in 2006 compared to 2005. The National
Arbitration Forum handled 1,658 Internet trademark disputes in 2006,
making it the largest filing year since the inception of their domain
name dispute program. Notable disputes involved famous trademarks such
as George Foreman, Stevie Wonder, Vin Diesel, Louis Vuitton and the New
York Yankees. In 1999, the National Arbitration Forum was appointed as an approved
provider of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) by the
Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Since then,
the National Arbitration Forum has handled more than 7,600 Internet
domain name disputes. Of these, 6,508 were decided by the National
Arbitration Forum's panel of 150 intellectual property experts. Many of
the remaining cases were settled by the parties.
"There continues to be a need for cost-effective and timely resolution
of Internet trademark disputes," said Curtis Brown, vice president of
the National Arbitration Forum. "On average the National Arbitration
Forum resolves domain name disputes in less than 50 days compared to
what may take years in court."
The National Arbitration Forum's online services allow parties from
across the globe to file claims to resolve trademark disputes over
Internet domain names. The majority of cases filed with the National
Arbitration Forum involve .com, .org and .net domain names. The
National Arbitration Forum also handles disputes involving .biz, .info,
.name, New.Net extensions and several country code top level domains
ranging from .us (United States) to .tv (Tuvalu) and .ro (Romania) to
.cc (Coco Islands).
In 2006, the National Arbitration Forum expanded its spectrum of
services to include the resolution of domain name disputes involving:
- Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), domain names that display in a
language using non-standard characters such as Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese or Korean.
- The .pro domain name extension, designed for professionals and professional organizations.
- The .mobi domain name extension, designed for mobile devices.
Visit the searchable case database http://domains.adrforum.com/decision.aspx for all domain name decisions from the National Arbitration Forum.
About the National Arbitration Forum
The National Arbitration Forum (FORUM) is one of the world's leading
providers of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services, including
arbitration and mediation. Committed to the integrity of America's
legal process, the National Arbitration Forum administers efficient,
cost-effective dispute resolution programs and services for all
parties. It maintains a distinguished panel of over 1,500 attorneys and
retired judges who follow and apply the substantive law when rendering
legal decisions. Mediators and arbitrators on the panel are located
across the U.S. and in 35 countries around the world. Established in
1986, the National Arbitration Forum is headquartered in Minneapolis,
Minnesota with offices in New Jersey and Southern California. For more
information or to sign up for the weekly ADR Law & Policy Update
newsletter, visit the National Arbitration Forum's website at http://www.adrforum.com.
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