Nominet Release Statement Following itunes.co.uk Decision Debate

Nominet Press Release 29/06/05

Following the decision of an independent expert Nominet awarded the domain itunes.co.uk to Apple, there has been much dispute in the press following this decision and there are many people talking about the decision with limited knowledge based on reading in various blogs, Nominet has issued a press release to try and clarify some of the issues surrounding the decision. The content of the Nominet statement is given below:

Much of the recent debate regarding the itunes.co.uk dispute has centered around the alleged 'David and Goliath' nature of the dispute and this has, in some instances, obscured the real reasons behind the decision. The  11 page decision  can be seen at:-http://www.nominet.org.uk/DisputeResolution/Decisions/Drs02223Itunes.html

1. The decision

The decision in the case was taken by an Independent Expert who based it on detailed submissions made by both parties to the dispute. The Expert makes it clear that the decision is based solely on how the domain name was used and in that respect took unfair advantage and was unfairly detrimental to the Rights of the Complainant. It was not based on whether there was any prior knowledge of  Apple or their iTunes music download service.

2. The Process

There is an appeals process within the Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) which can be used if one or other side is unhappy with the decision, and there is still time for an appeal to be lodged in this case. An appeal remains cheaper than a High Court action and would put the case before three Independent Experts. All the Experts are selected through an open applications process and chosen for their knowledge and expertise.  They come from a diversity of backgrounds, including large and small companies, legal firms, the IT industry, universities and trade mark organizations.

3. The Dispute Resolution Service

The Dispute Resolution Service for .uk domain names was launched in its current form in 2001 and was developed by UK stakeholders to meet their needs. Recognizing that there are millions of small businesses and sole traders in the UK, it is not biased towards any size of organisation. Over 70% of users are small businesses, and 85% of users do not use representatives of any kind (including lawyers) at the mediation stage. Nominet  provides a free, neutral mediation service  with a recent settlement rate of over 56%. This means that less than half of the hundreds of cases that come to the service will go to an Expert for a decision.

Nominet provides the mediation service for free. The fees charged if mediation fails only pays for the time taken by the Independent Experts to review the submissions and write a decision. If mediation is unsuccessful, the process becomes entirely independent of Nominet with the company performing a purely administrative function.

4. Legal proceedings

Nominet has not been served with any legal proceedings in connection with the iTunes decision. Anyone unhappy with an Expert decision can still go to court and take action against the other party. However, not everyone can afford to do this and the service provides an economic and effective way for all parties to resolve domain name disputes without having to go to court. 

The service can be used by anyone, large or small, with a legitimate grievance.  How big or how small you are plays no part in determining whether you win or lose.

In 2004 the Nominet Dispute Resolution Service was awarded the prestigious Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution in Industry (ADR) award by CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) one of the country's best known mediation bodies.

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