Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure
Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP) is a rights protection mechanisms (RPM) for trademark holders, in which a trademark owner may take any infringement concerns straight to the registry, bypassing domain name holder and the registrar. PDDRP was recommended for use by various community participants, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT).[1] As per the Registry Agreement, a registry operator must participate in the procedure and is bounded by the resulting determinations. PDDRP is one of the most effective means to counter bad-faith domain name registrations.[2]
Filing a complaint under PDDRP
Under the PDDRP, the complaint has to be filed electronically. The complaint will be first viewed for its technical compliance and will then be served and sent with a proper notice by the provider to the registry operator. The registry operator will then solve the dispute.[3]
Criticism
The RySG submitted comments on the possible addition of the PDDRP to the Draft Application Guidebook arguing that the additional process would be unnecessary, as it would create overlap with existing processes. They go on to argue that PDDRP unnecessarily shifts responsibility for trademark enforcement to registries and away from ICANN; RySG believes that it should remain ICANN's responsibility to address the disputes, as it provides the proper neutrality between the trademark owner who might be harmed by bad faith registration, and one who overzealously attacks a registry instead of solving the dispute with the bad faith domain name holder. They go on to recommend better ways in which bad faith domain registration might be deterred.[4]
References