Via Elliot’s Blog:
4) “EJS: What have you learned from UDRP cases where you weren’t victorious?
BL: “That legally being in the right is not always enough. The first time that a panel ruled against my client, he was a great guy and totally legitimate. We were hit with an unprincipled decision that ignored what should have been binding trademark law. The panel went with its gut. UDRP cases are usually decided at a gut level. The panelists are not paid enough to justify spending very long on deciding disputes, so there is a tendency to rule based on feeling and write the decision that backs it out. It’s really a very human thing to do, although in many cases, substituting instinct and a subjective sense of equity can result in inequitable results. I had another case where the other side basically overwhelmed the panelist with information. Given the nature of UDRP proceedings, we did not have an opportunity to prove that the Respondent in that case had gotten our facts wrong.”?
Last I heard they have upgraded their decision system to..
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It’s clearly a young system that needs a lot of development and refinement. No industry can function properly with an arbitration process that runs on “gut instinct” rather than rule of law.