WIPO - great summary

[neddy]

An online friend of mine posted this link to:

Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions

Basically it gives reasonably easy to understand guidelines as to how panels have viewed certain issues in the past. These are important to domain owners. (Obviously nothing is rock solid in relation to future cases!).

Here is one highlight:

3.1 Can bad faith be found if the disputed domain name was registered before the trademark was registered or before unregistered trademark rights were acquired?

Consensus view: Generally speaking, although a trademark can form a basis for a UDRP action under the first element irrespective of its date [see further paragraph 1.4 above], when a domain name is registered by the respondent before the complainant's relied-upon trademark right is shown to have been first established (whether on a registered or unregistered basis), the registration of the domain name would not have been in bad faith because the registrant could not have contemplated the complainant's then non-existent right.

They go on to quote various cases etc.

For anyone interested in protecting their cyber assets, it is important to have a basic understanding of the three issues that any complainant needs to succeed on. And the complainant must succeed on them all - lose one, and the complaint is dead.

Don't be bluffed, threatened or bullied out of your domain name! * (* But if you do (or have) purposely infringe/d on someone's existing IP, then you are asking for trouble).

If you ever get a threatening letter, understanding the above issues is paramount. And second bit of advice is PM or email Erhan Karabardak of Cooper Mills Domain Lawyers.