Brian Winterfeldt, Founder and Principal of Winterfeldt IP
Group, has been appointed as a Domain Name Panelist by the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO). Under this appointment, Brian will review domain
name complaints submitted to WIPO under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy (UDRP), and provide decisions to determine the disposition of
potentially infringing domain names.
The UDRP, an administrative procedure that allows
rightsholders (such as trademark owners) to recover or disable infringing
domain names, provides an efficient and cost-effective alternative to
litigation for certain domain name enforcement matters. In operation since
1999, the UDRP has been used to resolve nearly 40,000 domain name disputes
affecting over 70,000 distinct domain names.
“The UDRP has been a cornerstone of my clients’ Internet
enforcement efforts throughout my career,” Brian offered. “I am very honored to
have the opportunity going forward to support the process for this key
rights protection mechanism.”
Brian added, “The ICANN community is slated to begin a
review of the UDRP in the near future, in connection with its ongoing review of
all rights protection mechanisms for the domain name space. This additional
experience as a panelist will help shape my full understanding of the UDRP, as
the community enters into discussions about how to improve this critically
important process.”