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After several minutes of searching for domains with keyword analyzers, you find an ideal domain to go with your website. You purchase the domain, thinking that it is up for grabs.

Then after a few months you receive a letter from an attorney saying that the domain name has breached another business’ trademark. You are now stuck with a potential law suit that may result in you losing your domain name, your reputation and maybe even worse. However, with domain name arbitration, there’s a possibility you can get out of such a situation and avoid any possible repercussions .

What is domain name arbitration? It is a procedure in which the complainant and the holder of the domain try to work out a reasonable agreement as to who actually holds the rights to the domain. The arbitration in itself is done through the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, (also known as UDRP). This is a special arbitration method set forth by the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) organization. The UDRP is used for most domain name disputes, because it is cheaper and less time-consuming than ‘traditional’ litigation.

In order to start a domain arbitration proceeding, a webmaster must go through a provider that has been approved by ICANN to deal with such disputes. Once the arbitration begins, the provider will first determine if the complainant has any merit in their claim. They will do this by seeing whether the domain in question is similar to a trademark or domain name set forth by the claimant.

They will then establish what rights the claimant has to the title. They will also establish whether or not the domain was chosen accidentally or with the intention of benefiting from the claimant’s brand popularity. If the provider finds that the domain was chosen in bad faith, the domain will be transferred to the claimant. Otherwise, the original owner will be able to keep the disputed domain.

If either party is not satisfied with a domain arbitration proceeding, they can challenge the findings in a regular courtroom. This happened with Robert De Niro, when he tried to claim the rights to any domain name containing the phrase ‘Tribeca.’ He is still in court trying to retain the rights to Tribeca.net, which has been claimed by another person.

In conclusion, domain name arbitration is a great alternative to avoiding taking a domain name dispute into a courtroom. There is the opportunity to go to court if either side feels an arbitration isn’t fair. Yet, for most webmasters, the decisions made by the UDRP panel are adequate, since getting their consul is a lot cheaper than going to a judge.

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