Solicitors in dock over domain dispute failures

RESOLUTION SERVICE: complaints fail to address key points

Solicitors are palming straightforward domain-name complaints to junior staff to execute, and failing to supervise them properly, the chairman of Nominet UK's dispute resolution service claimed this week.

Nominet, the registry for Internet domain names ending '.uk', is warning that complainants and their lawyers wishing to use its free dispute-resolution service will have to improve the quality of their submissions or risk having their cases dismissed.

The company said that since its service was relaunched eight months ago, a substantial number of the 350 on-line complaint forms have been invalid because 'they fail to address the key points of the policy and procedure, or to provide any evidence to support their assertions'.

It added that a 'significant number' of the flawed complainants had been represented by solicitors.

Tony Willoughby, the chairman of Nominet's adjudicating experts, said: 'We are going to get tough with those submitting poor-quality applications.

Some complainants have benefited from [Nominet's] experts plugging gaps by making assumptions in their favour, but complainants should not bank on that continuing.'

Mr Willoughby, senior partner of London intellectual property law firm Willoughby & Partners, said there was a suspicion that law firms dump the applications onto junior staff and fail to give them proper supervision.

As all the details required to fill in the forms are on the Nominet Web site, he claimed there was no excuse for sloppiness.

Mr Willoughby said the warning showed that Nominet is not biased in favour of complainants, and that 'only those with a strong complaint get beyond the first free stage'.

LINKS: www.nic.uk

Jeremy Fleming