Fresh UDRP Goes into Effect Today – Still No Response from ICANN
CAC’s “supplemental rules” change goes into effect today.
Czech Arbitration Court’s fresh UDRP procedure — in which complainants pay only 500 EUR at first unless the domain owner responds or the arbitrator needs to think regarding the case — goes into effect today.
As far as I can tell, ICANN has not responded or issued a statement on Czech Arbitration Court’s (CAC) move. I’ll cut ICANN some slack here, given that CAC disclosed the fresh scheme just 15 days ago, and didn’t notify anyone publicly other than placing a notice in the news section of its web site. The 15 day window was conveniently timed for when ICANN’s staff packed up and headed to Kenya for its meeting, another gentle slap to ICANN’s face.
I’ve personally reached out to ICANN, as has Internet Commerce Association, to see what ICANN plans to do regarding this abuse.
Is ICANN in a fresh era of leadership where it actually has a spine? Or will it just brush this abuse of power under the table? If it doesn’t do anything, expect WIPO and National Arbitration Forum to follow CAC’s lead soon.
CAC is the newest UDRP provider for domain name arbitration. It hasn’t issued a decision since November 30, 2009 when it rejected a complaint against Kevin Ham’s firm Vertical Axis over the domain name CityDating.com.
