ICA’s UDRP Reform Policy Platform 2018

The Internet Commerce Association (“ICA”) is taking a leadership role in examining and reforming the UDRP. Over the following months and years during which the UDRP will be reviewed by the ICANN Rights Protection Mechanisms Working Group (the “Working Group”), the ICA will be developing policy reform proposals based upon extensive study and its consultations with ICA members who have first-hand experience with the UDRP. By publishing the 2018 UDRP Reform Policy Platform, the ICA intends to start a vigorous and constructive discussion. The ICA intends to seek broad support for these constructive reforms and to advocate for them both inside and outside the Working Group.

The UDRP although flawed in many significant respects, has been largely successful in being used to resolve thousands of domain name disputes since its inception in 1999. The language of the Policy provides for a generally fair and balanced approach to resolving these disputes, and accordingly the ICA’s policy proposals at this time encompass no substantive changes to the wording of the Policy itself. Rather, the ICA’s policy proposals encompass administrative and procedural reforms which will increase Accountability, Uniformity, Predictability, and Balance to the UDRP.

This is Version 1.1 of the ICA UDRP Reform Policy Platform. The ICA will continue to study the issues covered in this version and will additionally be publishing a Version 2.0 after consultation on Version 1.1 with UDRP stakeholders. Version 2.0 may therefore revise the policy proposals in Version 1.1, and will additionally propose further and more extensive policy proposals that the ICA is currently examining.