UNIFORM RAPID SUSPENSION SYSTEM (“URS”)

The main vehicle for taking proceedings to obtain a domain name is the UDRP- the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy which has proved over time to be very successful.

But it is often overlooked that there is also another process offered by ICANN which can be used. This is the UNIFORM RAPID SUSPENSION SYSTEM (“URS”).

Its objective is not to obtain transfer or cancellation of the domain name as can be obtained under the UDRP, but to have the registration of the domain name suspended, so that the alleged cybersquatter will not be able to use it, at least for the balance of the time left under the registration.

The advantage of using the URS rather than the UDRP is that the URS is faster and cheaper than the UDRP and avoids the (sometimes) detailed and lengthy arguments in a UDRP case which, because it is a forensic process with competing submissions and evidence, can tend to stretch on, not as long  as court proceedings, of course, but perhaps longer than trademark owners in urgent cases feel is necessary or desirable.

The other advantage of the URS is that there is an Appeal, whereas under the UDRP there is not.

The URS system, as the name implies, is rapid. It requires the Examiner (the equivalent of a UDRP Panel) to give his or her decision, called a Determination,  “on an expedited basis”. The goal of this is 3 business days from when Examination began.

Under the UDRP, the Panel is to provide its decision within 14 days of its appointment.

The Complainant must prove the 3 elements required to be proved under the UDRP and prove them by “clear and convincing evidence”, but if “genuine issues of material fact remain”, or there is a “genuine contestable issue”, the Complainant will not succeed.

If the Complainant proves its case, the registration of the domain  name is “suspended for the balance of the registration period and would not resolve to the original web site and “will not be able to be transferred, deleted or modified for the life of the registration.”

Unlike the UDRP,  only one Examiner is to conduct the proceeding, but either party may appeal, de novo, or from the beginning, and it seems that this can be an appeal to be heard by a three-person tribunal.

There is a fair bit more about the URS process and it is wise to have a look at the ICANN website at www.icann.org on this, at the Rules which exist for the URS, just as there are Rules for proceedings under the UDRP and for the list of the 3 providers that ICANN has appointed to conduct URS proceedings.

It is certainly worth examining and may well be appropriate for whatever the trademark owner sees as its desirable objective, whether suspension of the registration of the domain name under the URS or transfer or cancellation of the domain name under the UDRP.