W. Scott Blackmer, Partner at InfoLawGroup, was interviewed and featured in Westlaw Journal of Intellectual Property in the December 4, 2019 issue. He discussed his work with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as an arbitrator of domain name disputes.

The World Intellectual Property Organization held a conference Oct. 21 at its Geneva headquarters to reflect on the 20th anniversary of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, commonly called UDRP. WIPO is the leading dispute resolution service provider under this mandatory arbitration system designed by ICANN (the nonprofit Internet coordinating body) in 1999 as a solution to the problem of bad-faith registration of domain names that infringe trademarks. Twenty years later, it remains a vital enforcement tool with global impact. Over time, the UDRP has proven sufficiently flexible to continue to address cybersquatting efficiently. Brand owners from around the world have already used the UDRP and UDRP variations in over 45,000 cases filed with WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center. This year again, WIPO’s caseload is showing record numbers.

Scott shared, “I was attracted from the beginning by the potential for online dispute resolution to deal with both online abuses and competing (often cross-border) claims involving trademarks. WIPO has been effective in streamlining the process and promoting transparency and consistency, to the benefit of rights holders, entrepreneurs, and the domain industry. I have enjoyed being a part of this development since 2001, serving as a panelist in hundreds of UDRP and similar cases”.

The full journal can be purchased from Westlaw here:

http://www.westlawinternational.com/our-solutions/international-intellectual-property/