Brian Winterfeldt, Founder and Principal of Winterfeldt IP Group, has been appointed as a Domain Name Panelist by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Under this appointment, Brian will review domain name complaints submitted to WIPO under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), and provide decisions to determine the disposition of potentially infringing domain names.

 The UDRP, an administrative procedure that allows rightsholders (such as trademark owners) to recover or disable infringing domain names, provides an efficient and cost-effective alternative to litigation for certain domain name enforcement matters. In operation since 1999, the UDRP has been used to resolve nearly 40,000 domain name disputes affecting over 70,000 distinct domain names.

 “The UDRP has been a cornerstone of my clients’ Internet enforcement efforts throughout my career,” Brian offered. “I am very honored to have the opportunity going forward to  support the process for this key rights protection mechanism.”

 Brian added, “The ICANN community is slated to begin a review of the UDRP in the near future, in connection with its ongoing review of all rights protection mechanisms for the domain name space. This additional experience as a panelist will help shape my full understanding of the UDRP, as the community enters into discussions about how to improve this critically important process.”