The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published detailed results of its arbitration cases last year. In 2023, WIPO arbitrators reviewed 6,192 cases filed under the UDRP. A year earlier, this number was 5,764, so WIPO saw a 7 percent increase. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of complaints filed under the UDRP has increased by 68 percent. A total of 67,625 cases have been processed since the UDRP policy came into effect.
WIPO representatives attribute the upward trend in the number of complaints to several factors. First, UDRP is an effective tool and an attractive alternative to litigation, so businesses’ awareness of the capabilities of UDRP is growing rapidly. Then, the number of domain names is constantly increasing. And finally, cybersquatters are becoming increasingly active.
The top filing location is Europe: 40 percent of the total number; followed by North America and Asia with 33 and 20 percent, respectively. The figures for South America, Africa (3 percent each) and Oceania (2 percent) look very modest in comparison. Eighty percent of all complaints reviewed in 2023 were against domain names registered in the generic .COM top-level domain. In terms of ccTLDs, Colombian .CO, Chinese .CN, Mexican .MX, Australian .AU, Anguillan .AI, and the European Union .EU are the top TLD complaint.
In 2023, complaints procedures were conducted in 17 languages. English, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian were the most frequently used languages. As for the results, 82 percent of the cases were ruled in favor of the complaint and transfer rights to manage domain names; in 14 percent of cases, the parties managed to settle claims and reach an agreement during the proceedings; 3 percent of the proceedings ended in a dismissal; and in 1 percent of cases, the proceedings were canceled.
