Charging domain name complainants ‘unfair’

18 May 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Charging domain name complainants ‘unfair’

Charging complainants only in disputes over domain names in New Zealand is “unfair” and needs to be changed, an intellectual property specialist says.

Disputes involving domain names with .nz extensions (for example, .nz and .co.nz) can be resolved using the Dispute Resolution Service Policy (DRSP), administered by the Dispute Resolution Service arm of the Domain Name Commission in Wellington.

James & Wells Associate Ben Cain says the DSRP is an excellent forum but there is one “fundamental flaw”: in a defended complaint the complainant has to pay 100% of the expert determination fee if the dispute does not settle at informal mediation, which is currently $2,000 excluding GST.

“This is unfair, which is ironic given the DRSP is based on the principle of fairness,” he says.

Cain says charging complainants is unfair because it does not reflect the respondent's equal participation in the dispute resolution process.

It also presents no incentive for a respondent to settle during informal mediation due to there being no financial consequence on the respondent if settlement is not achieved, he says.

“This second reason often leads respondents - especially those whose only goal is to cause a complainant financial pain - to say 'Why should I settle? It's no skin off my nose if I don't.'

“Fairness surely demands that each party to the dispute pays an equal portion of the fee.”

Cain accepts that in an undefended complaint a complainant has to pay the entire fee.

However, he says a complaint should have the option to pay a lower fee for a summary decision, as complainants have under the equivalent policy in the UK on which the DRSP is modelled.

“It is about time we changed this feature of the DRSP to make it fair and equal, to give complainants the opportunity to pay less for a decision in an undefended complaint.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media