January 17th, 2022
WIPO CASE AND PANELISTS ANNUAL REPORT

In spite of the pandemic, or maybe because of it, there were 2,021 complaints heard by WIPO panelists in the past 6 months, and over 4,000 for the year 2021.  Of those, 88% were default cases without response from the domain registrants. Interestingly enough, however, 17 of those default cases were denials and 2 of them decided by Tony Willoughby were found to be Reverse Domain Name Hijacked (RDNH).  Of the 234 contested cases, 100 of them were denied (43%) with 13 finding RDNH.

I have gleaned the following statistics, which hopefully shed some light on some of the panelists thinking and results.  107 different panelists heard the 234 contested cases. WARRICK ROTHNIE had the most decisions with 21 of which 9 were denied. He also had the most transfers with 12. ROBERT BADGELY had the most denials with 11 and TONY WILLOUGHBY had the most RDNH findings with 3.  Our congratulations go out to JOHN BERRYHILL with 6 denials, and ZAK MUSCOVITCH AND ESQWIRE with 2 denials each in the last 6 months.

As I have said in previous reports, the reason that I compile the below statistics of which panelists have denied more claims than the others is that if you are faced with a UDRP case, you may choose to have 3 panelists decide that case of which you can name one.  That tends to even the playing field just a little bit.

One more thing that I need to report here is that there is a strong trend of holding domain investors to a higher standard than other registrants by requiring them to do substantially more research on each domain they purchase, or they will be found guilty of bad faith in the registration of the domain EVEN THOUGH they have not targeted the Complainant’s trademark.

WIPO PANELISTS WHO HAVE DENIED THE MOST CLAIMS FOR THE 6 MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021

1.  ROBERT BADGELY – 11 Denied, 2 RDNH, 4 Transfers
2. WARRICK ROTHNIE – 9 Denied, 12 Transfers
3. REYES ESTEBERANZ – 7 Denied, 8 Transfers
4. NICK GARDNER – 7 Denied, 1 RDNH, 5 Transfers
5. MATTHEW KENNEDY – 7 Denied, 2 RDNH, 8 Transfers
6. W.SCOTT BLACKMER – 6 Denied, 5 Transfers
7. ANDREW LOTHIAN – 6 Denied, 2 RDNH, 6 Transfers
8. JOHN SWINSON – 5 Denied, 1 RDNH, 3 Transfers
9. TONY WILLOUGHBY – 4 Denied, 3 RDNH, 0 Transfers
10. HON. NEIL BROWN – 4 Denied, 1 RDNH. 0 Transfers
11. DAVID BERNSTEIN – 4 Denied, 4 Transfers

WIPO PANELISTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021

1. ROBERT BADGELY – 17 Denied, 2 RDNH, 9 Transfers
2. WARRICK ROTHNIE – 15 Denied, 2 RDNH, 24 Transfers
3. NICK GARDNER – 13 Denied, 3 RDNH, 9 Transfers
4. MATTHEW KENNEDY – 12 Denied, 2 RDNH, 23 Transfers
5. JOHN SWINSON – 10 Denied, 3 RDNH, 6 Transfers
6. REYES ESTEBERANZ – 9 Denied, 12 Transfers
7. ANDREW LOTHIAN – 9 Denied, 3 RDNH , 11 Transfers
8. HON NEIL BROWN – 9 Denied, 4 RDNH, 1 Transfer
9. LUCA BARBERO – 8 Denied, 4 RDNH, 5 Transfers
10. ADAM TAYLOR – 7 Denied, 3 RDNH, 11 Transfers

WIPO PANELISTS ALL TIME DECISIONS

1. HON. NEIL BROWN – 149 Denied
2. JOHN SWINSON – 113 Denied
3. ROBERT BADGELY – 100 Denied
4. WARRICK ROTHNIE – 96 Denied
5. TONY WILLOUGHBY – 90 Denied
6. LUCA BARBERO – 78 Denied
7. RICHARD LYON – 77 Denied
8. ANDREW LOTHIAN – 75 Denied
9. W. SCOTT BLACKMER – 74 Denied
10. NICK GARDNER – 70 Denied

I sincerely hope that this is helpful to all domain investors and registrants.  Watch for our Annual FORUM Report later this week.

Howard Neu, Esq.

Howard@Neulaw.com