A new magistrate: Network Solutions adopts new dispute policy

The New Year brought a new dispute policy to domain name registrar Network Solutions Inc., prompting the company to launch a new informational Web site to help its name holders through the transition.

Effective Jan. 1, NSI adopted the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). The policy, approved in December by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is mandated for all registrars in the dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org domains.

Although other registrars adopted the policy last month, NSI, the largest registrar, delayed formal adoption to address ongoing disputes. "We have a number of disputes in progress and needed time to notify [customers] about the new policy and inform them that they will have to reinitiate a new complaint under the new policy," an NSI spokeswoman said. Of the 9000 disputes NSI has handled since 1995, about 15% remain active.

The new policy differs from NSI's previous policy in four primary ways. "The key difference from NSI's old policy is that nothing will happen to a name while it is being arbitrated," an ICANN spokeswoman said. Before the change, domain names under dispute were put on hold. Now, name holders can use the name during arbitration. Domain names that were placed on hold under NSI's old policy will be reactivated during the first quarter.

To keep a name from being reactivated, parties must file a complaint against the domain name registrant under terms and conditions of the new policy or provide NSI with a file-stamped complaint from a court of competent jurisdiction that names the registrant as a party.

The UDRP also now will apply to all state and common law trademarks, whereas only national trademarks previously qualified for arbitration. "Confusingly similar" names now will fall under UDRP's jurisdiction. Only identical trademarks were arbitrated under NSI's former policy.

Finally, to protect trademarks from cybersquatting, which is an abusive attempt to profit from someone else's trademark, the UDRP contains a special provision for online processing to settle the dispute in less than 57 days. The procedure costs between $1000 and $2500. "Our policy was dependent on the two disputing parties to work out an agreement and could take months or years to resolve," the NSI spokeswoman said.

Three criteria now must be met to qualify for arbitration. A domain name has to be trademarked or copyrighted, the person holding the name must have no legal right to it and the person holding the name has to have acted somehow in bad faith, the NSI spokeswoman said. "If it doesn't meet these criteria, people can still go to court," said the ICANN spokeswoman. "But this is meant to have something quicker and more cost-effective than going to court."

In conjunction with its transition to UDRP last week, NSI launched a new Web site at www.domainmagistrate.com to answer questions about the new policy. Actual dispute status can be obtained by using the resolution@netsol.com e-mail address.

"The Web is, at this time, an information-only system. Down the road, we would like to enhance our service around disputes," the NSI spokeswoman said.

The policy follows an agreement formalized last November between the Department of Commerce, NSI and ICANN to open NSI's domain name database to competition. Since then, 10 companies have received registrar accreditation.

"With the addition of more registrars, there needed to be one way for everybody to settle disputes. One form. One method," the NSI spokeswoman said.

Disputes currently are handled by three arbitration providers: The World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva; Disputes.org, a consortium of academics and law practitioners specializing in trademark law; and the National Arbitration Forum in Minneapolis.