Itself on the back for Legal Rights Objections — WIPO pats
Even if it didn’t mean to, WIPO ought to pat itself on the back for its handling of Legal Rights Objections.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has issued a lengthy note (pdf) detailing the process and results from managing Legal Rights Objections to fresh top level domain names.
Although the note is merely an analysis, it appears WIPO is quietly patting itself on the back for a job well done. While the two other arbitration groups are still finalizing their cases, WIPO has by now released a post mortem.
The note details that cases cost less than anticipated. Decisions were made in a timely manner, too. They were mostly consistent.
Compare that to The International Centre for Dispute Resolution and The International Center of Expertise of the International Chamber of Commerce, the groups handling string confusion, community, and limited public interest objections.
They were often over budget, untimely, and inconsistent. The ICDR published the wrong draft notes, and published decisions in a poorly designed format. ICC is over budget, inconsistent, and fairly tardy.
To be fair, the guidebook was written poorly for some types of cases. And not all types of cases are created equal. But that doesn’t excuse a lot of the inconsistencies and poor case management.
If there’s one thing most fresh TLD observers will say regarding the objection process, it’s that WIPO comes out of it looking pretty darn good.
