WIPO: $100 to See Who Owns a Domain Name

When a UDRP is filed and the registrar is served with the complaint, the registrar releases the registrant details to the complainant. This ostensibly allows the complainant to fully understand whether they should proceed with the dispute or withdraw it. If a single domain name UDRP is withdrawn before a panelist is appointed, WIPO would refund $1,000 of the $1,500 filing fee, retaining $500 as a processing fee.

For instance, if I believe ElliotSilver.com is infringing on my trademark and the Whois information is private, a UDRP filing might quickly show me the registrant is also named Elliot Silver, and I should withdraw my UDRP because it is not winnable. In this case, I would have paid WIPO $1,500 and would have lost $500 as a processing fee.

Earlier today, WIPO announced a new UDRP fee schedule. In it, WIPO announced that it would only retain $100 of the $1,500 UDRP filing fee if the UDRP is withdrawn after the registrant information is sent but before a panelist is appointed. Instead of paying $500 to see who owns a domain name via the UDRP process, it now essentially will cost $100 if a UDRP is filed and quickly withdrawn.

John Berryhill noted the fee schedule change in a comment on X that shows the (perhaps) unintended consequence of the fee change:

This is huge news for domain brokers and anyone else trying to track down a domain registrant. WIPO has introduced the $100 WHOIS service. File a pro forma UDRP complaint, get the registrar data, and withdraw the complaint for $100 net: https://t.co/Go5b7aCjth pic.twitter.com/2g8nHR2Lvr

— John Berryhill (@Berryhillj) March 9, 2026

I reached out to John to discuss this, and he shared the following comment to me:

“It’s important to understand that, at the initial stage of filing the complaint and getting the registrar data, for which there is a 48 hour deadline, there are no ‘sanity checks’ or substantive review of the complaint itself. If a complaint is filed by ‘John Doe dba ‘Example'” and Mr. Doe says he has a trademark for “Example”, that’s good enough. Likewise, there is no requirement (by WIPO) that a UDRP be filed by an attorney, or that the person filing the UDRP show they are authorized to act for the complainant. For example, a UDRP complaint can be filed in a very skeletal form with no more than a sentence or two. When I’ve filed UDRP complaints, I often leave in a notation ‘[to be amended upon registrant identification]’ since there can be important substantive allegations that depend on who is the registrant.

Now, someone could say ‘but isn’t there a certification requirement’. Yes there is, and if the complaint is filed without a certification, that will be one of the compliance items the complainant will receive along with the registrant data. Also, if the certification is signed by Mickey T. Mouse, he might be in big trouble if WIPO sends out the UDRP Police to ask Mr. Mouse about why he signed that certification.

But, at a net cost of $100, you can easily think of a number of use cases where that is a bargain, compared to some of the investigative work and inferences that people go through to contact a domain registrant. The savings in GoDaddy brokerage commissions ALONE would far exceed that cost, if you can directly contact a GoDaddy domain registrant using this information obtained in a filing that is withdrawn before the registrant is even notified that anything has happened.

Finally, bear in mind that you can include up to five unrelated names in this $100 basket, so that’s $20 a name.”