David Weslow Discusses ICANN’s Revised Rules for Internet Domain Name Disputes

David E. Weslow, a partner in Wiley Rein’s Intellectual Property Practice, was quoted yesterday by Bloomberg BNA’s Electronic Commerce & Law Report, in an article about rule changes announced by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) with respect to domain name dispute proceedings.

The revised rules will require domain registrars to lock disputed domain names during the pendency of the dispute resolution proceedings, and will prevent registrants from being notified of complaints until the lock is in place.  The rule changes address the problem of “cyberflight,” which has hampered the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedure (UDRP) process, Mr. Weslow told Bloomberg BNA.

“At the present time, some registrars implement a ‘lock’ that prevents any changes to all fields of a domain name registration record including the name servers, some registrars prevent changes to only the registrar and registrant fields, and some registrars do not implement any type of ‘lock.’” Mr. Weslow said. “The amended UDRP Rules provide important clarifications defining the nature and timing of the ‘lock’ that must be implemented by a registrar upon receipt of a UDRP complaint from the service provider.”