Domain name disputes
In addition to providing services in domestic and international arbitrations, the Arbitration Court attached to the Czech Chamber of Commerce and the Czech Agrarian Chamber also operates an online forum for resolving domain name disputes. This is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism that shares several features with arbitration (faster, more efficient, and less formal than court litigation) but is not, strictly speaking, an arbitration proceeding. It is a specific type of ADR.
Domain ADR protects owners of protected designations (e.g., trademarks or other marks) against the abusive registration of domain names. The Arbitration Court provides ADR services for domain name disputes at three levels:
-
Worldwide domains under UDRP,
-
European Union domain (.eu),
-
Czech national domain (.cz).
UDRP
UDRP (“Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy”) is the most commonly used form of domain dispute resolution. In 2023, the Arbitration Court received 908 UDRP cases. This policy applies to generic top-level domains (gTLDs), including popular domains such as .com as well as .net, .org, and more than 1,500 others. The Arbitration Court is one of only six institutions worldwide authorized by ICANN (the non-profit organization overseeing many Internet-related matters) to administer UDRP domain disputes.
.EU and .CZ
Disputes over the .eu top-level domain, administered by EURid, were decided exclusively by the Arbitration Court from 2006 to 2017; since 2017, the Arbitration Court has continued as one of two possible ADR forums.
Disputes over the .cz country-code top-level domain were formerly resolved by the Arbitration Court through arbitration (beginning in 2004), but based on Czech case law, the system was restructured in 2015 into an alternative dispute resolution model inspired by UDRP.
METHOD OF PROCEEDING
All disputes are handled via specialized online platforms. The entire process is carried out in writing, using form-based submissions uploaded through these platforms. Fee information for each type of proceeding can be found on the relevant platform websites (see the links below).
If the complainant is successful, the outcome of the proceeding can be either transfer of the domain name registration to the complainant or the cancellation of the domain registration (making it available again for registration). In this type of dispute, it is not possible to claim either cost reimbursement or damages resulting from unauthorized domain name registration.
Compared to conventional court proceedings, domain name dispute resolution is significantly faster: UDRP disputes typically last around 45 days to 2 months, .eu disputes around 2–3 months, and .cz disputes approximately 3–4 months due to longer time limits. Thanks to the expedited and online nature of these proceedings, they are far more efficient, thereby reducing the parties’ costs for representation and other expenses.
DECISION
The decision is carried out automatically, with the Arbitration Court coordinating enforcement of the outcome in cooperation with domain registrars, who are required to implement the result of the dispute.
An independent panel of experts (either single-member or three-member) decides the disputes, drawing on specialists in this field. All decisions in UDRP and .eu proceedings are made public, while decisions in .cz proceedings are published once the parties’ and disputed domain’s identifying data have been anonymized. Published decisions foster transparency and predictability. All published decisions can be found at the links provided below.