ICANN appoints the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre as the 2nd URS provider

Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) and ICANN have signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing ADNDRC as a Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) provider.

ICANN claims that ADNDRC is well known to the Internet community as an established Uniform Domain Name Dipute Resolution Policy (UDRP) provider, with offices in Beijing, HongKong, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur and that it has a proven track record of administering UDRP cases since its appointment as a UDRP provider in 2001. The truth is that not even the Asians use ADNDRC as a UDRP provider, resulting that very few cases are filed there.

As previously announced, ICANN appointed The National Arbitration Forum (FORUM) as a URS Provider and expects to appoint one or more additional providers in the near future. The appointment process is similar to that of appointing UDRP providers in which consideration is given to achieving competitive provisioning and geographical spread of providers.

The URS is a rights protection mechanism in ICANN’s New gTLDs Program that facilitates rapid suspension of domain names in clear-cut cases of trademark infringement. It is intended to complement the existing UDRP by offering a lower-cost, faster path to resolution.