January 14th, 2021
OUR BIGGER AND BETTER ANNUAL UDRP REVIEW – PART 1 – WIPO

For a number of years, our readers have looked forward to our Annual Review of WIPO Decisions; what Panelists have been more favorable to Domain Investors, which Panelists to avoid if possible, and why cybersquatters give us all a bad reputation with the public.  This year we are “beefing up” our report to provide you with statistics that you can utilize to be successful in a UDRP.

From July 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, WIPO has reported 1,627 Decisions; 1,370 of them being default transfers to the Complainants.  That’s 84% of the total, because Respondents do not respond.  Some of those defaults are due to various legitimate reasons, but the vast majority do not respond because they are cybersquatters who do not want to spend the money to defend their domains as they know going in that they are trademark infringements.  Unfortunately, this reflects badly on all domain investors and the entire industry.

Of the 257 contested cases, 89 Complaints (35%) were denied, and 14 of those denials resulted in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH).  That comes to 16% of the Denials.

WIPO utilized the services of 95 different Panelists.  However, only 15 of the 257 cases were in front of 3 Panelists.  And of those 15 cases, 11 were decided in favor of the Domain Investors.  73% of those who went with a 3-person panel, resulted in favorable decisions.

Our analysis consists of 3 lists that we have compiled for your use. The first list is the TOP Panelists for the past 6 months. The second list is the TOP Panelists for the year 2020. The third list is the TOP ALL TIME PANELISTS at WIPO.  We are now also noting whether the favorable decisions were as solo panelist or part of a 3-person panel.

THE WIPO TOP PANELISTS FOR THE LAST 6 MONTHS OF 2020

                                                                SOLO   3 PP   RDNH  TRANSFER

1. JOHN SWINSON                             7            3             4            1
2. W. SCOTT BLACKMER                   10           0            3            1
3. ANDREW LOTHIAN                        7             3            2            3
4. GEORGES NAHITCHEVANSKY   5             1             1            3
5. HON. NEIL BROWN                        0            5             2            1
6. NICK GARDNER                               4            0             1            3
7. WARWICK ROTHNIE                      2            2             1            5
8. ROBERT BADGELY                          3            2             1            7
9. MATTHEW KENNEDY                    4            0            0            4
10. LUCA BARBERO                               3           0            0             0
11. ADAM TAYLOR                                 3           0            2             5

THE WIPO TOP PANELISTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 12/31/2020    

                                                                    DECISIONS               RDNH

1. W. SCOTT BLACKMER                       24                        6
2. JOHN SWINSON                                    18                        4
3. ANDREW LOTHIAN                              14                        2
4. ROBERT BADGELY                               12                         1
5. NICK GARDNER                                    11                          4
6. GEORGES NAHITCHEVANSKY        10                          1
7. ADAM TAYLOR                                       9                           2
8. HON. NEIL BROWN                              9                           3
9. MATTHEW KENNEDY                         8                            2
10. WARWICK ROTHNIE                           8                            1
11. CHRISTOPHER PIBUS                         6                            1
12. WILSON JABUR                                     6                            0
13. REYES ESTABARAN                              6                            0
14. ASSEN ALEXIEV                                    6                            0

1.                                      TOP ALL-TIME WIPO PANELISTS

                                                           2020             2019

HON. NEIL BROWN – 135                         1                     1

JOHN SWINSON – 98                                2                      3

TONY WILLOUGHBY  – 82                      3                       2

WARWICK ROTHNIE – 78                      4                        4

ROBERT BADGELY – 77                          5                         6

W. SCOTT BLACKMER – 68                   6                        10

RICHARD LYON – 67                               7                         5

LUCA BARBERO – 65                              8                         7

ANDREW LOTHIAN – 63                       9                         8

ALISTAIR PAYNE – 48                            10                        9

NICK GARDNER – 47                              11                         13

FREDERICK ABBOTT – 45                    12                         11

ADAM TAYLOR – 41                                13                         12

CHRISTOPHER PIBUS – 34                   14                        16

GEORGES NAHITCHEVANSKY – 29  15                         17

In the last 6 months, kudos to John Berryhill and Steve Lieberman with 4 wins each; I had 2 and Paul Keating had 1.

PART 2 concerning the FORUM statistics will be published shortly.

Thanks for “listening”,

Howard Neu