WIPO bumps Aussie domain name dispute panel numbers

The name principal of a Melbourne law firm is the latest admission to the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) domain name panel, which examines domain name disputes globally.

As a panelist, Nick Weston, from the law firm of the same name, will help decide disputes under the “Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy” (UDRP) and the “.au Dispute Resolution Policy” (auDRP), which are the mandatory arbitration procedures for deciding competing claims to domain names.

The panel decides whether a domain name registration should be transferred, cancelled or the status quo maintained.

The UDRP applies primarily to international domains such as .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz. and .mobi.

The auDRP is an Australian adaptation of the UDRP for com.au, net.au, asn.au, id.au, edu.au and org.au domain names.

The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre claims to have resolved more than 14,000 cases under the UDRP procedures involving parties from 144 countries and some 25,000 Internet domain names.

There are now 29 registered domain name panelists for Australia , including 22 based locally.