Nominet strengthens UK Dispute Resolution Service with appointment of 14 new independent experts
Nominet has appointed 14 new independent experts for its Dispute Resolution Service
12/03/08
Nominet, the .uk domain name registry, today announces that it has appointed 14 new independent experts to join its renowned Dispute Resolution Service (DRS). The independent experts will provide binding decisions in resolving domain name disputes. Nominet's DRS provides individuals and businesses with a cost-effective and efficient alternative to the courts.
The appointed experts come from a variety of relevant professional backgrounds including IP lawyers, CEDR mediators, arbitrators and senior barristers.
The new appointments will increase the total number of DRS experts from 35 to 40. There are now over 6.6 million .uk domain names and the appointment of new experts is in line with the growth of the .uk register.
Online disputes account for a small proportion (around 0.05%) of all .uk domain registrations. Nominet currently receives around 80 new cases a month, of which approximately 20% proceed to an expert decision. Therefore, experts deal with around one dispute every two months and are paid £750 for each case.
Nick Wenban-Smith, Senior Legal Counsel at Nominet comments: "We were delighted with the calibre of applications for the positions and are looking forward to welcoming the new experts on board. We are very proud of the service that the DRS provides the Internet industry. In cases where the domain dispute is not resolved through mediation, individuals and businesses can proceed to an expert wholly independent of Nominet for a decision based on the DRS Policy and Procedure.
"We also want to take this opportunity to thank the nine panellists that are stepping down for their hard work and specialist expertise that has made the DRS the world renowned service it is today. The newly appointed experts will help us to maintain the high standard and will ensure that we continue to deliver an efficient method of dealing with domain name disputes in a rapidly changing environment."
Notes to Editors
About Nominet
Nominet UK operates at the heart of e-commerce in the UK, running one of the world's largest Internet registries and managing over six million domain names. With highly respected industry credentials it is entrusted with the safe, stable and secure management of the .uk Internet name space. Nominet runs the technology which locates a computer on the Internet hosting the web site or email system you are looking for when you type in a web address or send an email to an address that ends in .uk.
Nominet is a not-for-profit company with members instead of shareholders and is recognised as the .uk domain name registry by the Internet industry and the UK Government. It is not a governing or regulatory body, but provides a public service for the .uk namespace on behalf of the UK Internet community.
About the DRS
Nominet operates a Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) that attempts to resolve domain name disputes. The DRS does not replace the role of the Courts and is open to anyone. All cases, if unresolved, have the opportunity to proceed to an expert wholly independent of Nominet for a decision based on the DRS Policy and Procedure.
For more information on Nominet's DRS please see:
http://www.nominet.org.uk/disputes/
For further information, please contact:
Blaise Hammond / Katie Judge / Gemma Griffiths, Racepoint Group UK
Tel: 020 8752 3200
Email: nominet@racepointgroup.co.uk
An archive of press releases is available for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
What are news feeds?
Find out about subscribing to live content via RSS or Atom.