The Forum is approved by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide domain name dispute resolution services under policies like the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

“The world of domain name extensions is constantly expanding, putting trademark holders around the world on high alert and creating challenges for new potential registries,” NAF Internet Legal Counsel Kristine Dorrain said.

“The National Arbitration Forum offers solutions to protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) before or after domain name extensions go live,” Dorrain added.

Cases filed with the NAF are heard and decided by Dispute Resolution Panelists who are primarily Intellectual Property (IP) lawyers with specialized domain name, trademark, copyright, and/or e-commerce experience.

Panelists are located around the world and can conduct proceedings in several languages including Dutch, English, French, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Korean.

The following data pertains to the NAF domain name dispute resolution program in 2008 (January 1 to December 31, 2008):

- In total, there were 1,770 cases filed.
- Nearly all cases filed (98%) involved UDRP domain names, like .com and .org; the rest involved usDRP domain names with the .us extension.
- Panelists heard and decided 1,477 cases; parties worked together to settle many of the rest.
- By the end of 2008, over 10,600 disputes were filed with the National Arbitration Forum.
- Panelists resolved 9,470 of those cases, while the parties settled many of the rest.

Notable 2008 decisions involved trademarks such as American Girl, Anheuser-Busch, Canadian Television, Patrick Dempsey, We The People LLC, and YouTube.

NAF domain name dispute proceedings and decisions are available online in a searchable case database.

To file a claim visit, www.domains.adrforum.com