NEIL BROWN APPOINTED TO CZECH ARBITRATION COURT DOMAIN NAME PANEL

PRESS RELEASE 19 November 2008

MELBOURNE ARBITRATOR ON NEW PANEL FOR DOMAIN NAME DISPUTES

Arbitrator and former Federal Minister, The Hon Neil Brown QC has been appointed to a new international panel for the arbitration of disputes on internet domain names.

The panel has been set up by the Czech Arbitration Court in Prague which was appointed this year by ICANN as a new provider of arbitration services.

The other providers are WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organisation) in Geneva) and the NAF (the National Arbitration Forum) in the US.

Mr. Brown is a member of both panels as well as panels in Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Beijing and has arbitrated on dozens of disputes.

The Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) already provides arbitration services for European .eu domain names and will now handle all domain name disputes like .com, .biz, .org and .info.

Disputes can be handled in English.

What are the disputes about?

The disputes are:


(a) complaints about cybersquatters who use companies’ trademarks and names and concoct a domain name, pretending it is the real thing and then link it to a website selling competing products or pornography etc;



2.
(b) disputes between rival business interests who both claim to be entitled to the domain name;

(c) disputes between companies and others who claim they are using the domain name for a legitimate criticism site or a celebrity fan site;

(d) any other dispute where a domain name is the same as a trademark or confusingly similar to it, the person registering the domain name has no right to it and registered the domain name in bad faith

What is new about the Czech arbitration service?

Mr. Brown said that the new Czech service prides itself on the fact that its process for handling the arbitration s will be 100% online; there will be no papers sent to the arbitrators, and they will just log in, read the submissions from both sides and their evidence, then write a decision and press the ‘submit’ button.

What orders can be made?

The arbitrator can order that the domain name be transferred to a successful complainant or be cancelled, or the arbitrator can dismiss the complaint if it has not been proved.

How many panelists are there?

“The CAC has appointed only 30 arbitrators worldwide for the new service. It is good for Australian businesses to know that they have a direct link with the international domain name process”, Mr. Brown said.

The CAC will start to receive cases on 1 January 2009.


The Hon Neil Brown QC practices as a mediator and arbitrator.

For further information call (03) 9534 5436 or 0400 123 254.