Editing Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (section)

== Historical background ==
When ICANN was first set up, one of the core tasks assigned to it was "The Trademark Dilemma",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/unthemed-pages/white-paper-2012-02-25-en|via=[[ICANN.org]]|publisher=[[United States Department of Commerce]]|title=Management of Internet Names and Addresses}}</ref> the use of trade marks as domain names without the trademark owner's consent. By the late 1990s, such use was identified as problematic and likely to lead to consumers being misled. In the United Kingdom, the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales|Court of Appeal]] described such domain names as "an instrument of fraud".<ref>British Telecommunications plc v One in a Million Ltd [1999] 1 WLR 903, [[Aldous LJ]] at 920.</ref>

One of the first steps was that Member States commissioned the United Nations [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO) to produce a report on the tension between [[trademark]]s and [[domain name]]s. Published on 30 April 1999, the WIPO Report recommended the establishment of a "mandatory administrative procedure concerning '''abusive registrations'''",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/amc/en/docs/report-final1.pdf|title=The Management of Internet Names and Addresses: Intellectual Property Issues, 30 April 1999.}}</ref> which would allow for a "neutral venue in the context of disputes that are often international in nature."  The procedure was not intended to deal with cases with competing rights, nor would it exclude the jurisdiction of the courts. It would, however, be mandatory in the sense that "each domain name application would, in the domain name agreement, be required to submit to the procedure if a claim was initiated against it by a third party.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/processes/process1/report/finalreport.html|title=WIPO Internet Domain Name Process|website=www.wipo.int}}</ref> The WIPO Report also set out the current [[#Process|three-stage test]] of the UDRP.

At its meetings on August 25 and 26, 1999 in Santiago, Chile, the ICANN Board of Directors adopted the UDRP Policy,<ref name="ICANN">{{Cite web |title=Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy |url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/policy-2012-02-25-en |website=ICANN}}</ref> based on the recommendations contained in the Report of the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Final Report of the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process |url=https://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/amc/en/docs/report-final1.pdf |website=WIPO}}</ref> as well as comments submitted by registrars and other interested parties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WIPO Guide to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) |url=https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/guide/#b3 |website=WIPO}}</ref>

On October 24, 1999, the ICANN Board adopted a set of Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the UDRP Rules<ref name="icann.org">{{Cite web |title=Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Rules") |url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/udrp-rules-2015-03-11-en |website=ICANN}}</ref>) setting out the procedures and other requirements for each stage of the dispute resolution administrative procedure. The procedure is administered by dispute resolution service providers accredited by ICANN.

Following adoption by ICANN, the UDRP was launched on 1 December 1999, and the first case determined under it by WIPO was ''World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc v. Michael Bosman'', involving the domain name worldwrestlingfederation.com.<ref>[http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/1999/d1999-0001.html WIPO Domain Name Decision: D1999-0001]. Wipo.int. Retrieved on 2014-04-28.</ref> Since then WIPO provides a globally-used Jurisprudential Overview to summarize case law on a range of common and important substantive and procedural issues under the UDRP.<ref name="WIPO Panel Overview">{{Cite web |date=2017 |title=WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions, Third Edition ("WIPO Jurisprudential Overview 3.0") |url=https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/overview3.0/}}</ref>