January 23rd, 2023
WIPO CONTESTED DENIALS ARE A BIG SURPRISE

Something very surprising has happened during the last 6 months at WIPO. The number of contested Denials are equal to the number of transfers! In deciding contested claims WIPO panels transferred 90 domains, but also denied 90 claims. Not only that, but there were also 24 findings of RDNH.

WIPO used 259 different panelists (compared to 29 by The FORUM). These panelists decided 2,060 cases, up from 2,021 the previous 6 months, for a total of 4,081 cases in 2022. Of the 1,880 (91%) uncontested cases, 1,856 (98.7%) were transfers, with 24 denials and 1 RDNH finding. This shows that there is a big disparity between the contested and uncontested cases.

While WIPO doesn’t show nearly the favoritism toward certain panelists that The FORUM does, the top 12 panelists had at least 25 decisions each (all transfers) for a total of 375 uncontested decisions.

92 different panelists decided the 180 contested cases from July 1 to December 31, 2022 at WIPO. The most contested cases decided by any panelist was 14, so the cases were pretty evenly distributed. Of all the panelists, MATTHEW KENNEDY decided the most cases during the past 6 months with 31 uncontested transfers, 6 contested transfers, 7 contested denials and 1 RDNH.

Here is a rundown on how the panelists stack up on uncontested and then contested cases.

UNCONTESTED PANELISTS WITH AT LEAST 25 DECISIONS

1. EDOARDO FANO – 41
2. MARILENA COMAESCU – 36
3. SEBASTIAN HUGHES – 35, 1 Denial
4. ASSEN ALEXIEV – 33
5. MATHIAS LILLEENGREN – 33
6. MATTHEW KENNEDY – 31
7. MARINA PERRAKI – 30
8. WILSON JABUR – 30
9. EVAN BROWN – 29
10. PABLO PALAZZI – 28
11. DEANNA MAN – 27
12. MIHAELA MIRAVELA – 26
13. NICHOLAS WESTON – 25

CONTESTED PANELISTS WITH AT LEAST 5 DECISIONS

1. WARWICK ROTHNIE – 6 Transfers, 8 Denials
2. MATTHEW KENNEDY – 6 Transfers, 7 Denials, 1 RDNH
3. ROBERT BADGELY – 5 Transfers, 6 Denials, 2 RDNH
4. JOHN SWINSON – 2 Transfers, 8 Denials, 5 RDNH
5. STEVEN MAIER – 4 Transfers, 6 Denials, 3 RDNH
6. W. SCOTT BLACKMER – 5 Transfers, 4 Denials, 3 RDNH
7. NICK GARDNER – 3 Transfers, 4 Denials, 2 RDNH
8. ANDREW LOTHIAN – 4 Transfers, 3 Denials, 1 RDNH
9. KAYA KOKLU – 4 Transfers, 2 Denials
10. ADAM TAYLOR – 3 Transfers, 3 Denials, 2 RDNH
11. REYES ESTEBERANZ – 4 Transfers, 2 Denials, 1 RDNH
12. CHRISTOPHER GIBSON – 3 Transfers, 2 Denials

NEXT: WIPO 2022 REPORT CARD