You may soon lose control over your domain if ICANN's IRT recommendations are accepted.

Incase you are not aware - URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension) is the 'new concept' launched by ICANN (to make more money... and yeah, they are here to restore the world order... cleaning internet world from cyber sqatters)

Here is a summary
Trademark owners can file a case with ICANN under URS for $200 for domain that 'may' violate TM norms (and it gets absurd with the prices coming down to $1.5 when done on mass scale - you dont' get discount only for bulk booking eh!). So on recieving the complaint, domain is moved to 'frozen state' (Transfer / Update prohibited) within 24 hours, and 24 hours to admin contact to respond to the violation case. Failure to respond - may lead to IRT accpeting business owners claim to the domain. 14 days to file a formal response (you all do have a battery of lawyers to work for you 24x7 isn't it .. so who cares if your domain stops to resolve after first 24 hours and your website revenue is $000, with possible penalites for violating TM)

URDP would still remain in place - so you may file a case with URDP if you have lost your domain with IRT.

Isn't ICANN so generously transparent to domain owners by not sending a notice about IRT's composition and asking for comments by informing via email to admin contacts!

Read More Here & ICANN

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PubDomains, thanks for the info. While some trademark holders might have genuine claims against cybersquatters etc, I agree the problem is that the proposed Uniform Rapid Suspension will encourage and make easier reverse domain name hijacking attempts.

My understanding though is that all that happens if you lose is that your website gets shut down. You don't actually lose your domain.

I hadn't realised the domain doesn't get transferred (instead it remains frozen for the remainder of the registration term). so what happens to the domain once the registration term expires?

Jeff, There are many implications to even site shutdown. We don't know how Google and Search Engines would treat the site during this period - and the regular visitors / when the DNS fails to resolve or gets redirected (as proposed - to ICANN website informing about the dispute). Chances are that very few would ever return to the site once they don't get what they came looking for. For a small website owner who is devoting his time and money to develop his / her website and earn revenue by selling goods, services or just by revenue from ads, any shutdown - could have long term repurcussions to the business.

Also URS is a fast track process, timelines are 24 hours to respond to first information (and I don't always sit besided internet to track emails - there are times when I'm travelling and I don't look at my inbox for a week) - Failure to respond - would be treated as your unwillingness to justify action against disputed domain.

Next within 14 days you have to give a response (and justify why you should be the owner of the domain) - This again assumes that you have nothing else in the world to do, and you are a legal eagle who can draft a good response to save your domain from reverse hijacking...

Should one lose the domain - loser has to raise the process as per UDRP and follow the whole process, as it is not many decisions in UDRP has gone in favour of domainers, so in all probability, first loss is from URS, and should one spend more money on UDRP - and lose again, one would have spent a good amount of time and money for a lost cause.

My simple question is what is the need for IRT and URS when UDRP exists. Is UDRP not capable of handling disputes? Instead of streamlining the process ICANN is making it more complicated and very much leaning towards corporate - while not considering views of individual domain owners and domainers.

Doesn't come as a surprise though that ICANN is so much tilted to favour big business, the way they function (as a Not for profit organization) is not transparent, they have made so much profit over the years that they could actually invest in stock market (and make losses at our expense). What and how ICANN spends 20c I pay for each domain I register is beyond my imagination, what is clear is though that they are going out to make life more miserable and domain owners need to unite and stand up for the right process and policies concering us.

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Thanks pubdomains.in - a very helpful post!

I agree that a site shutdown is really bad. My understanding is that the moment you appeal to a court of competent jurisdiction, this is stayed and your website goes back up.

However, I agree with you that the URS is much worse than the UDRP (which is already pretty bad).

The problem is that all of these procedures were simply meant to deal with the most obvious cases of cybersquatting. However, the panelists have extended their powers far beyond that.

Thanks pubdomains.in for this very valuable post.

I agree with you that "domain owners need to unite and stand up for the right process and policies".

I thought it is all about ourRight To Information. As Domainers, each one has the right to be well informed about about the Law that prevails at any given point in time and a comprehensive detail about TradeMark issues & procedures, Cyber Squatting and other sensitive aspects.

I am not surprised therefore to read posts here and other forums that many if not most domain owners simply walk away from their domains in the event of a dispute! It is highly likely that most domain owners have no clue whatsoever about the kind of moves they can/need to make in the event their domain is 'acquired'! With so much ambiguity prevailing at the global level, talking of .in domain owners, I am left to wonder what would be the scenario here in India.

With due respect to the fact that Cyber / Domain Laws are always evolving due to its highly dynamic nature and it is therefore challenging to have a crystal clear framework; I thought the same can't be a reason for domain owners to continue to live in a kind of hostile scenario if I may call it.

May be for things to change, for better, we need to come together and do our bit.

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I think the risk for India is that if the URS is adopted by ICANN, then India (and other countries) may adopt it as well.

Jeff, as posted by wot inforum - on cnnic.cn stand, we hope other countries adopt the Chinese path instead of falling in line with ICANN directives.!

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