October 29, 2013
The Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) just received its first workout and the case was found in favour of the complainant.
The Uniform Rapid Suspension System was implemented to complement the existing Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP); by offering a cheaper and more rapid way to deal with very blatant cases of infringement.
While originally envisioned to operate primarily with new gTLDs (generic Top Level Domains), the first case to be tested involved a .PW name.
The complainant was Facebook; which was objecting to another party having control over the facebok.pw name; registered by a resident of California. Facebook requested the domain name be suspended for the life of the registration.
The Examiner, Darryl C. Wilson - a veteran of UDRPs, found that the Domain Name is "confusingly similar to Complainant's FACEBOOK mark" and that "the Respondent does not have any rights in the name FACEBOOK or 'facebok' nor is the Respondent commonly known by either name."
Additionally, Mr. Wilson noted the Respondent was known for engaging in "a pattern of illegitimate domain name registrations" in relation to well known trademarks.
Given the evidence, Mr. Wilson ordered the name be suspended for the duration of the registration.
The full determination can be viewed here.
Under the URS, it appears the fees for having a complaint considered range from USD $400 to $500 and between $300 and $1300 to hear appeals. That compares very favourably with the UDRP process, which costs from USD $1,500 for complaints heard by WIPO. However, has mentioned, the URS can only be used in specific circumstances.
In Australia, domain disputes are usually handled under Australian equivalent of the UDRP, the .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP).
You can read more about the Uniform Rapid Suspension System here.
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