WIPO reports 22% increase in domain name dispute resolution cases in 2021
Statistics recently published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for 2021 show that trademark owners filed 5,128 domain name dispute resolution cases with WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center – a 22% increase compared with 2020. The centre has been offering domain name dispute resolution services since 1999, under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) developed at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). WIPO notes that the growth in cybersquatting cases ‘can be largely attributed to trademark owners reinforcing their online presence to offer authentic content and trusted sales outlets, with a greater number of people spending more time online’. The 5,128 cases registered in 2021 – covering a total of 8,775 domain names – involve parties from 132 countries, with the USA, France, the UK, Switzerland, and Germany being the top five filling countries. The top three business areas of case submitters include banking and finance (13%), internet and IT (13%) and biotechnology and pharmaceuticals (11%).
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