WIPO Paperless UDRP - First Dispute Notified

December 18, 2009

The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center this week became the first UDRP provider to launch essentially paperless domain name proceedings under a UDRP Rules change announced by ICANN on December 7, 2009. A dispute brought by Nokia over the domain name <nokiasex.com> was the first commenced under the newly announced WIPO facility. Others among the first-filed disputes since the introduction of WIPO’s new procedure concerned domain names such as <softwarewikipedia.com>, <cokerewards2009.com>, <tamiflu-kaufen.com>, <deals4ericsson.com> and <starwarslego.info>. User reactions to the new WIPO facility have been highly positive, with some 40 paperless domain name disputes filed with WIPO in the four days alone since the new procedure launched on Monday, December 14, 2009. This greener, more efficient UDRP option is expected to save WIPO UDRP parties time and money, eliminating the need to print and post up to 1 million pages of filings each year.