Casual Articles - Introduction to .uk Domain Disputes

Nominet does not use the UDRP for dispute resolution, but has instead created a distinctive system inspired by the UDRP. The substantive rules governing .uk disputes are set out in Nominet’s dispute resolution policy document (referred to below simply as the "Policy") and its dispute resolution procedure document.

Procedural rules

The Nominet dispute resolution procedure is a close relative of the UDRP procedure. However, there are some important differences.

There is a free mediation service built in to the Nominet procedure. The mediation process involves a neutral third party who tries to bring the complainant and respondent to agreement through "shuttle diplomacy". If the parties can resolve their dispute before the mediation period comes to a close, Nominet waives its fee.

Another distinctive feature of the Nominet procedure is the possibility of appealing an expert's decision (in Nominet proceedings, panellists are called "experts"). By contrast there is no appeal – other than to a court of law – from a decision under the UDRP or the EURid rules.

A single expert always decides "first instance cases". Should either party appeal the first instance decision, a three member panel will be appointed to decide the appeal. At the time of writing, there have only ever been six appeals.

The Nominet fee is always paid by the complainant. At present, that fee stands at ?750 plus VAT. There is also a fee of ?3000 plus VAT payable by a person invoking the appeal procedure.

The remedies available are cancellation or transfer. Unlike in UK litigation, there are no provisions for the unsuccessful party to pay the successful party’s costs.

Substantive rules

Basic rule is that: "A Respondent must submit to proceedings under the Dispute Resolution Service if a Complainant asserts to us, according to the Procedure, that: (i) The Complainant has Rights in respect of a name or mark which is identical or similar to the Domain Name; and (ii) The Domain Name, in the hands of the Respondent, is an Abusive Registration." (Paragraph 2(a) of the Policy.)

"Rights" are treated in a similar way to rights under the UDRP: the test is not a difficult one to meet.

The idea of an "Abusive Registration" maps imperfectly on to the concepts of legitimate interest and bad faith under the UDRP.

Rights in a name or mark…

Paragraph 1 of the Nominet Policy provides that: "‘Rights’ includes, but is not limited to, rights enforceable under English law. However, a Complainant will be unable to rely on rights in a name or term which is wholly descriptive of the Complainant's business."

In practice these rights are often rights arising out of registered UK or Community trade marks. Position, Don't Prospect - Part 1
If you're a coach, student coach, business owner or someone with a desire to get into business, take careful note of the powerful tips and development strategies presented within this series and GET READY to make the leap to ultimate success.Position, don’t Prospect By now you should be well on the way to defining your target prospect, developing your niche and brand, and expressing it through your USP.We’ve already explained the importance of establishing a niche. If you do not niche, and instead decide to offer generic coaching services, you’ll find it extremely difficult to compete. Your coaching business and services will appear the same as everyone else and you’ll find it difficult if not impossible to distinguish yourself.Every prospective client, whether it’s reality or not, perceives their problems to be unique to them. If their problems have been enduring, their perception is that the problem is complex – too complex for them to have fixed themselves in the interim. Their logic therefore determines that they need someone with specialised skills and knowledge to help them overcome that problem. Someone with advanced skills and knowledge to their own. By your prospects reasoning therefore, a generalist will not be able to offer rules

The Nominet dispute resolution procedure is a close relative of the UDRP procedure. However, there are some important differences.

There is a free mediation service built in to the Nominet procedure. The mediation process involves a neutral third party who tries to bring the complainant and respondent to agreement through "shuttle diplomacy". If the parties can resolve their dispute before the mediation period comes to a close, Nominet waives its fee.

Another distinctive feature of the Nominet procedure is the possibility of appealing an expert's decision (in Nominet proceedings, panellists are called "experts"). By contrast there is no appeal – other than to a court of law – from a decision under the UDRP or the EURid rules.

A single expert always decides "first instance cases". Should either party appeal the first instance decision, a three member panel will be appointed to decide the appeal. At the time of writing, there have only ever been six appeals.

The Nominet fee is always paid by the complainant. At present, that fee stands at ?750 plus VAT. There is also a fee of ?3000 plus VAT payable by a person invoking the appeal procedure.

The remedies available are cancellation or transfer. Unlike in UK litigation, there are no provisions for the unsuccessful party to pay the successful party’s costs.

Substantive rules

Basic rule is that: "A Respondent must submit to proceedings under the Dispute Resolution Service if a Complainant asserts to us, according to the Procedure, that: (i) The Complainant has Rights in respect of a name or mark which is identical or similar to the Domain Name; and (ii) The Domain Name, in the hands of the Respondent, is an Abusive Registration." (Paragraph 2(a) of the Policy.)

"Rights" are treated in a similar way to rights under the UDRP: the test is not a difficult one to meet.

The idea of an "Abusive Registration" maps imperfectly on to the concepts of legitimate interest and bad faith under the UDRP.

Rights in a name or mark…

Paragraph 1 of the Nominet Policy provides that: "‘Rights’ includes, but is not limited to, rights enforceable under English law. However, a Complainant will be unable to rely on rights in a name or term which is wholly descriptive of the Complainant's business."

In practice these rights are often rights arising out of registered UK or Community trade marks. Fraud - Benefit Fraud
In this article we're going to cover another type of fraud that is very common, especially in the United States. This is benefit fraud.Benefit fraud comes in all shapes and sizes. The bottom line is the person who commits benefit fraud is receiving money from the government that they are not entitled to. The number of ways to commit benefit fraud is exceeded only by the amount of money that it costs the government each year.One way to commit benefit fraud is by not reporting some of your income on your income tax such as if you have a savings account with substantial earnings. This lowers the tax burden of the individual thus lowering the amount of money they either have to pay the government or raising the amount of the refund that they receive.Another way to commit benefit fraud is by misreporting the number of dependent children you have in your home currently living with you. A family with 3 children that only is responsible for 2 of those children is legally not allowed to claim the third child, especially if the child is either over age or living in their own apartment or home. These children are responsible for filing their own taxes. But benefit fraud is not only limited to income taxes. Another area benefit fraud hits is with actual bene, panellists are called "experts"). By contrast there is no appeal – other than to a court of law – from a decision under the UDRP or the EURid rules.

A single expert always decides "first instance cases". Should either party appeal the first instance decision, a three member panel will be appointed to decide the appeal. At the time of writing, there have only ever been six appeals.

The Nominet fee is always paid by the complainant. At present, that fee stands at ?750 plus VAT. There is also a fee of ?3000 plus VAT payable by a person invoking the appeal procedure.

The remedies available are cancellation or transfer. Unlike in UK litigation, there are no provisions for the unsuccessful party to pay the successful party’s costs.

Substantive rules

Basic rule is that: "A Respondent must submit to proceedings under the Dispute Resolution Service if a Complainant asserts to us, according to the Procedure, that: (i) The Complainant has Rights in respect of a name or mark which is identical or similar to the Domain Name; and (ii) The Domain Name, in the hands of the Respondent, is an Abusive Registration." (Paragraph 2(a) of the Policy.)

"Rights" are treated in a similar way to rights under the UDRP: the test is not a difficult one to meet.

The idea of an "Abusive Registration" maps imperfectly on to the concepts of legitimate interest and bad faith under the UDRP.

Rights in a name or mark…

Paragraph 1 of the Nominet Policy provides that: "‘Rights’ includes, but is not limited to, rights enforceable under English law. However, a Complainant will be unable to rely on rights in a name or term which is wholly descriptive of the Complainant's business."

In practice these rights are often rights arising out of registered UK or Community trade marks. Why Pay for Advertising That Does Not Yield Sales, Increase Your Conversions
Before you part with your cold hard cash, consider various ways to increase and maximize your conversions. The term conversion simply represents the number of website visitors that take the action that the web publisher desires. In most cases, conversion refers to an individual browsing a website and purchasing the product(s) or service(s) being sold. The idea is that a browser has been converted into a buyer.What if you could increase the number of people that visit your site to customers who purchase or take action on your site by 1 percent. What would a 1 percent increase in conversion mean to your bottom line? Even on low ticket items, a 1 percent increase in conversions can be potentially staggering when considered over time.How do you increase conversions?Obviously the copy is critical in converting a 'browser' into a 'buyer' and while a webpage should be optimized for search engine spiders, search engine optimization should not be at the expense of web surfers. Webmasters must balance search engine optimization with sensible copy that calls the website visitor to the appropriate action.What about advertising?Keyword advertising can be very effective. In order to increase the conversion of keyword advertising, create continuity between yole are cancellation or transfer. Unlike in UK litigation, there are no provisions for the unsuccessful party to pay the successful party’s costs.

Substantive rules

Basic rule is that: "A Respondent must submit to proceedings under the Dispute Resolution Service if a Complainant asserts to us, according to the Procedure, that: (i) The Complainant has Rights in respect of a name or mark which is identical or similar to the Domain Name; and (ii) The Domain Name, in the hands of the Respondent, is an Abusive Registration." (Paragraph 2(a) of the Policy.)

"Rights" are treated in a similar way to rights under the UDRP: the test is not a difficult one to meet.

The idea of an "Abusive Registration" maps imperfectly on to the concepts of legitimate interest and bad faith under the UDRP.

Rights in a name or mark…

Paragraph 1 of the Nominet Policy provides that: "‘Rights’ includes, but is not limited to, rights enforceable under English law. However, a Complainant will be unable to rely on rights in a name or term which is wholly descriptive of the Complainant's business."

In practice these rights are often rights arising out of registered UK or Community trade marks. You Can't Be Number One on Google
As an Internet marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consultant, I often get requests like this: “I need to be number one on Google, and I don’t have a lot of money to spend. How cheaply can you do it, and how long will it take?”Sadly, the answer to this type of request is usually, “You can’t be number one on Google.”If you think about it, you will understand why. Imagine for a moment that, as an SEO expert, I have a magic wand that I can wave to instantly move your website to the top of the search results for any search terms you choose. As soon as I do that, one of your competitors will pay their SEO consultant to wave a magic wand, and move their website to first place, ahead of yours. Then another competitor will pay another consultant, and then another, and another.Soon there are thousands of SEO consultants waving magic wands. But since there is only one first place, and only ten listings on the first page of search results, it’s clear that most of the competitors will not be on the first page.Furthermore, Google, Yahoo and MSN (the big three search engine companies) don’t really like SEO consultants doing things to affect search engine positioning, so they regularly “break the magic wands” by changing theiay to rights under the UDRP: the test is not a difficult one to meet.

The idea of an "Abusive Registration" maps imperfectly on to the concepts of legitimate interest and bad faith under the UDRP.

Rights in a name or mark…

Paragraph 1 of the Nominet Policy provides that: "‘Rights’ includes, but is not limited to, rights enforceable under English law. However, a Complainant will be unable to rely on rights in a name or term which is wholly descriptive of the Complainant's business."

In practice these rights are often rights arising out of registered UK or Community trade marks.

However, the rights can also be rights in the tort of passing off. This is a complex subject, but most experts will be prepare to accept that a complainant has unregistered trade mark rights which could give rise to an action in passing off where the complainant can show substantial use of a mark or name as a trade mark in the UK. It is probably fair to say that the standard of proof required by Nominet experts of these unregistered rights is significantly lower than that required by the English courts in a passing off action - although in passing off cases the evidence is usually being used to prove a different point.

Rights can also mean contractual rights – e.g. where one person has contracted with another to transfer the domain, but then refuses to do so.

…which is identical or similar to the domain name

Because most Nominet experts have at least some expertise of trade mark law, the concepts of identity and similarity are heavily conditioned by the comparable concepts in trade mark law.

As regards identity, the domain name extensions are ignored, so that the trade mark MERCEDES is identical to the domain name mercedes.co.uk. Similar formal differences (e.g. the use of hyphens in a domain name in place of spaces) should not upset a finding of identity.

Similarity is more difficult. In European trade mark law there is a concept which may be called "confusing similarity", and it is this concept which experts are accustomed to apply when comparing one mark to another. The question is: would the public be confused by the use of the marks or names, or associate one with the other. Judging by the detail of experts’ decisions, a similar question is often asked in .uk domain name dispute arbitrations.

Abusive registration

"‘Abusive Registration’ means a Domain Name which either: (i) was registered or otherwise acquired in a manner which, at the time when the registration or acquisition took place, took unfair advantage of or was unfairly detrimental to the Complainant's Rights; OR (ii) has been used in a manner which took unfair advantage of or was unfairly detrimental to the Complainant's Rights." (Paragraph 1 of the Nominet Policy)

Note that the abuse can take place either at the time of registration/acquisition or subsequently. In either case, the key ideas are those of taking "unfair advantage of" or being "unfairly detrimental to" the complainan

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