UDRP With 1,000+ Domain Names is a Milestone for WIPO

Milestone 30,000th WIPO #UDRP case filed today as brands continue to fight #cybersquatting: http://t.co/o2DM1fh1NY

— WIPO (@WIPO) November 17, 2014

The World Intellectual Property Organization reported that it received its 30,000th UDRP filing yesterday, and it is a fairly interesting UDRP given the sheer number of domain names that are a part of it. Apparently, Ebay was the company that filed this milestone UDRP, and the case involves well over 1,000 domain names (there were 1,153 domain names in total included in this filing).

The first ten domain names included in this UDRP filing offer a good look at the types of domain names that were the subject of the filing:

• ebay000.com
• ebay001.net
• ebay002.com
• ebay002.net
• ebay003.com
• ebay003.net
• ebay005.net
• ebay006.com
• ebay006.net
• ebay008.net

I randomly checked several of the domain names included in the UDRP, and they appear to be registered using the same privacy service based in China. Because of the privacy protection, the registrant information is not public. The random check of the domain names shows that they appear to have been registered around August of this year, although I did not check more than a handful of these domain names.

30,000 is quite a lot of UDRP cases, especially given the fact that many filings have more than one domain name. In my opinion,  Ebay will most likely win this UDRP and take possession of the domain names. The big question is will they continue to keep these domain names registered at a cost of nearly $7,500 annually, or will they let them expire. The trouble with situations like these is that there is an exponential number of domain names that can be created like this. I suppose that shows why a UDRP proceeding benefits a trademark holder like Ebay.