Last month, I reported that there appeared to be more gTLD UDRP cases filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2016 than in 2015. At the time of my article, the highest case # (case filings are in numeric order) was WIPO Case D2016-2392. In my article, I predicted that this year will have the most gTLD UDRP case filings at WIPO than any other year, and it looks like that prediction came true.
Although it wasn’t exactly a difficult prediction to make based on the rate of filings, it looks like there are now more cases filed in 2016 than there were in 2012, which appears to have had the most filings. In 2012, the highest case number was D2012-2549. As of this morning, the current case # for 2016 is D2016-2560, a UDRP filed by Philip Morris USA Inc. against the Marlboro.Press domain name. Unfortunately for Philip Morris, the company is all too familiar with UDRP proceedings (the company seems to have a tremendous win record though).
I believe the number of UDRP filings at WIPO this year is so high because of inexpensive new gTLD domain names. Many of the UDRP filings I see contain very obvious trademarks, and some people think they may be able to profit from them somehow despite the risks. As I warned back in 2014, do not buy trademark new gTLD domain names! My feeling about that is the same today that it was 2.5 years ago.
Based on the amount of time left in the year, I would not be surprised if WIPO surpasses the D2016-2600 mark. This is a record I would rather not see broken.
