Domain Name Update

On 29 July a series of changes were introduced to the UK domain name dispute resolution service.

This service is run by Nominet and helps to resolve disputes over ownership of .uk domain names. The main amendments include the following:

• if a respondent fails to respond to a complaint, the complainant can request a summary decision. The expert will only be required to certify that the complaint has been made out, rather than write a detailed decision;
  
  
• the definition of 'rights' now includes descriptive terms which have acquired secondary meaning through extensive use. For example, the owner of a brand such as 'Best Bananas' could now complain about 'bestbananas.co.uk', even though the brand describes his business;