Read a report from our DRS consultation event held on 6 February 2007
We are updating Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) to keep the service quick, simple, fair and approachable for all who use it, and to make sure that it keeps abreast of changes in the external environment.
If you register domain names for yourself or your business, if you trade in domain names, if you are concerned about protecting your online identity or that of your customers, then we want to hear your opinions.
What the Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) is for
Nominet's DRS is our formal complaints process that handles disputes about the registration or use of .uk domain names. While the DRS prevents a lot of disputes from going to court, it is not designed to replace the need for the courts.
If you want to find out more about how the DRS currently works, there is a great deal of information on our web site, such as:
A description of the service Typical cases Statistics on the DRSWhat has changed since the last DRS reviewThe proposals at a glance
How we handle descriptive terms within the DRSTrade mark law protects words which have 'a distinctive character as a result of the use made of it' e.g. "British Gas". We propose to recognise this category of names in the DRS. We also propose to clarify that the DRS recognises rights in dictionary words which are protected by registered trade marks or good will.
Safeguards for the secondary market ("domainers")As part of explaining what is or is not an abusive (unfair) registration, we propose to extend the examples of things that are not necessarily evidence of 'abuse' to include resale of domain names, sale of traffic (e.g. by "pay-per-click") or having a large portfolio of domain name registrations. In addition, we propose to clarify that the weaker the rights that the complainant has, the less likely it is that abusive registration or use will be inferred if the evidence is finely balanced.
FeesIt has always been free to file a DRS complaint and the money paid for expert decisions is passed on to the independent experts. We do not charge for our administration and mediation services. Some people have suggested that the free system encourages poor quality complaints and we should perhaps charge an upfront fee.
Our proposed options on fees are:
1. No change
2. Introduce an upfront non-refundable fee (£50-100) and reduce the expert decision fee accordingly, to keep the change cash-flow neutral
3. Introduce a system where the losing party pays for the decision
Further proposals in briefThere are a number of other proposals to change aspects of the service including the procedure, payment, drafting, appeals, expert decisions, and abusive registrations.
The consultation
This consultation has three parts:
an online survey, an in-depth consultation document that you can
download as a pdf file or
access a web version, and an outreach programme including a series of events and meetings (dates to be published). The consultation period lasts for 3 months from 17 November 2006 to 16 February 2007.
What happens next?
Once the consultation has finished we will analyse the results and propose a revised policy and procedure to be adopted for the DRS.
How to respond to this consultation
Anyone can respond to this consultation. Please either respond to the
online survey; attend the outreach events and give your feedback; or email your answers to the questions presented in this document to
drsconsultation@nominet.org.uk. We look forward to receiving your comments.
All responses will be published on our web site however we reserve the right to remove any materials that in our reasonable opinion are defamatory, offensive or unintelligible.
Consultation responses
The consultation responses are published below: