Mediation solves majority of disputes over domain names

Mediation is settling more than half of disputes over .uk domain names, Nominet, the UK domain name registry, has revealed in the week that it published the 100th decision of its dispute resolution service.

The service was relaunched in September 2001.

In total, 813 complaints have been made to Nominet, of which 215 were held to be invalid.

Of the 292 cases to complete the initial informal mediation stage, 55% have settled.

Some 138 cases have been referred to an independent expert for determination; 79% of those so far decided have been in favour of the complainant.

Among the published decisions is one in favour of south-west law firm Foot Anstey Sargent over an individual who had registered the domain name www.footansteysargent.co.uk.

However, solicitor Marc Nye's effort to take over five domain names relating to solicitors and mediation from the Legal Publishing Company failed.

Emily Taylor, Nominet's in-house solicitor, said domain name disputes are now not just about people registering well-known names with a view to sale for large amounts of money.

LINKS: www.nominet.org.uk