[gnso-rpm-wg] URS / UDRP proposals -- data on registrar/registry compliance costs

[George Kirikos]

Hi folks,

In support of an upcoming proposal regarding allowing cost recovery by
registrars and registries of compliance costs associated with the
handling of URS and UDRP disputes, I wanted to share the following
data (which I will then reference in the actual proposal).

(a) I reached out to Reg Levy of Tucows, Direct of Compliance for the
world's 2nd largest registrar (and also a member of this PDP),
regarding time spent handling UDRP and/or URS complaints and was told:

"With regard to URS, that applies primarily to registries, so we don't
have any cost for for those. For UDRPs, I haven't done an analysis of
how long it would take one of my team members to process a UDRP
complaint; generally, it simply includes intake, locking the domain,
and then unlocking or forwarding the domain upon resolution. A normal
UDRP would likely take around 15 minutes but there are some tough ones
(I've spent more than an hour on a few with Paul talking through the
issues and figuring out how we will proceed) so I'd call it an average
of 30–35 minutes per claim." (she said I could share this response
with the PDP)

(b) GoDaddy's registration agreement suggest that they'll charge an
administrative fee (albeit to the registrant) for such compliance
costs:

https://ca.godaddy.com/legal-agreements

"GoDaddy also reserves the right to charge you reasonable
“administrative” fees" for (i) tasks GoDaddy may perform outside the
normal scope of its Services, (ii) additional time and/or costs
GoDaddy may incur in providing its Services, and/or (iii) your
noncompliance with this Agreement (as determined by GoDaddy in its
sole and absolute discretion). Typical administrative or processing
fee scenarios include, but are not limited to (i) customer service
issues that require additional personal time or attention; (ii) UDRP
actions(s) in connection with your domain name(s) and/or disputes that
require accounting or legal services, whether performed by GoDaddy
staff or by outside firms retained by GoDaddy; (iii) recouping any and
all costs and fees, including the cost of Services, incurred by
GoDaddy as the results of chargebacks or other payment disputes
brought by you, your bank or Payment Method processor. These
administrative fees or processing fees will be billed to the Payment
Method you have on file with GoDaddy."

and it has been $50 in the past:

https://domaingang.com/domain-news/udrp-fee-reversed-godaddy-heres-done/

(c) Some URS and UDRP disputes involve multiple domains, increasing
the complexity and thus the cost of compliance for
registrars/registries on a variable per-domain name level, e.g.

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2009/d2009-1661.html

involved 1,542 domains, all of which need to be put on a legal
hold/lock, checked to determine that they involve the same registrant,
etc.

(d) if any other registrars and registries wish to share data publicly
on typical compliance costs (e.g. time per dispute, etc.), that would
be wonderful.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
416-588-0269
http://www.leap.com/