URS launches with .pw Registry
The .pw Registry has become the first domain name registry to adopt a mandatory rights protection tool under the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) programme.
The Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) is designed to resolve clear-cut cybersquatting cases more quickly and cheaply than the existing Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).
While the UDRP can transfer a domain to the winner of a dispute, the URS will immediately suspend a disputed domain before proceeding to trial. The URS also charges fees to unsuccessful applicants.
All new gTLD registries must sign up to the URS, but .pw Registry, which manages the country-code TLD for the island of Palau but brands itself as the “professional web” registry, has done so voluntarily to help tackle cybersquatting.
Sandeep Ramchandani, business head at the registry, said: “Proactive abuse mitigation is one of our primary tenets. URS offers brand owners a highly effective, quick and inexpensive mechanism to eliminate names that violate their trademarks. We are glad to be leading from the front by becoming the first extension globally to adopt it.”
Kristine Dorrain, director of Internet and IP Services at the National Arbitration Forum (NAF), which will manage URS complaints, added: “The National Arbitration Forum is pleased that .pw Registry has selected the URS as one of its dispute resolution options … The adoption of URS, in addition to UDRP, demonstrates .pw Registry’s commitment to protecting the .pw domain name space from cybersquatting activity.”
Ramchandani said by adopting the URS early, the .pw Registry was giving groups such as brand owners and registries a chance to test its effectiveness “in a live environment”.
“One of our goals in the adoption of URS is also to help the community by ensuring a more refined and predictable experience when the URS roll-out takes place across more than a thousand new gTLDs. To that end, we will be sharing our implementation lessons and best practices with the community in addition to opening a communication channel to relay policy related feedback to ICANN and NAF.”
The .pw Registry is owned by Indian web company Directi, which applied for 31 gTLDs through its subsidiary Radix. Applied-for strings include .web, one of the most highly-contested applications.
The first new gTLDs are expected to go live this autumn.
