discuss I received a notification from ADRFORUM, how should I handle it?

[g9xmouse]

Dear Parties:

The Respondent has not filed a formal Response to Complainant’s Domain Name Dispute Complaint in the above referenced case.

Honorable XXX, (Ret.) has been appointed as the Panel for this case. Pursuant to Rule 15, an Administrative Hearing will be held not more than 14 days from this date. The Hearing does not involve testimony being given, nor the attendance of the parties.

The parties are not to have contact with the Panel. All correspondence to and contact with the Panel are to be made through FORUM. Any written correspondence or documents submitted to FORUM must be also sent to all other parties.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

I hadn't received any prior email notifications about this issue. Why am I being told that I have not responded? How should I handle this situation when I don’t even know which domain name is under arbitration?

I responded to their emails, but received no response.

 

[BaileyUK]

My first thoughts, You are a 10 year member of NP and can't differentiate between a genuine and spoof email.

No offence intended but I've no idea what the senders intention is apart from obtaining confirmation (by you) that your email is live and active. If this email is genuinely lacking all the basic information, Why are you treating it as genuine ??

Wouldn't be surprised if you get a further email telling you to Transfer a domain due to this so called 'Forums ' decision

 

[pb]

ADR is EU's arbitration court and ADR Forum seems to be some American knockoff *but* it looks legitimate at first glance, so I wouldn't automatically dismiss it. However it's a red flag that they don't answer your messages. Did you double-check the sender?

 

[jberryhill]

If this email is genuinely lacking all the basic information, Why are you treating it as genuine ??

What basic information is it lacking?

It appears to be the normal text from an ADRForum.com UDRP default message. I'm not sure what the point of spoofing one might be since (a) most registrars don't disclose the registrant email by default and (b) it doesn't seem to have a practical purpose.

But, yes, oddly, the ADRForum does not generally identify the domain name in their case default messages, since the case is identified by the case number and parties.

One way to check pending, notified UDRP cases at ADRForum is to use their search function here:

https://www.adrforum.com/domain-dispute/search-decisions

Select "UDRP" for "Ruleset", leave everything else blank, and hit "search cases".

Then, use the >| button to scroll to the end of the list. Non-decided, pending cases are at the end pages.

Expand to the list to 100 results:

....and take a look.

Or hop back a page or two or three using the buttons shown above, since this case, if real, would have commenced 20 days ago, and they get a fairly steady rate.

One reason to have failed to receive notice would be if your email system, or some intermediate server, determined that the notice of commencement and its attachments were spam. Again, since that would have been 20 days ago, you might not be able to recover that by this point in time.

Another thing you might look at is the cc: list on that email, which should also have been copied to the attorney for the other side. If it is [email protected], then go to biglawfirm.com, take a look for a J. Doe in their roster, and ring them up. Although that might not be the best idea in the world if you have a defensible domain name in the first place.

However it's a red flag that they don't answer your messages.

Not generally. Once the case has been assigned to a panelist, the case manager will sometimes just forward anything received for the panelist to deal with if he wants, and we don't know the timing here. Expecting them to reply the same day is unrealistic. If they sent all of the required communications previously, they don't have any obligation to answer various correspondence they receive outside of what is procedurally required by the UDRP. They don't have to hold anyone's hand and walk them through the process. Plus, at this point, there are very limited options.

 

[jberryhill]

ADR is EU's arbitration court and ADR Forum seems to be some American knockoff

ADRForum.com (formerly the National Arbitration Forum) was one of the originally-accredited UDRP providers. ADR.eu (Czech Arbitration Court), came along years later and started with launch-phase dispute procedures in the .eu TLD.

 

[pb]

ADRForum.com (formerly the National Arbitration Forum) was one of the originally-accredited UDRP providers. ADR.eu (Czech Arbitration Court), came along years later and started with launch-phase dispute procedures in the .eu TLD.

Thanks, I was actually aware of NAF but missed the point when they changed the name. Must have been after ADR.eu launch, though. Google doesn't know either, but ChatGPT says it was in 2010.

 

[jberryhill]

Yeah, they changed their name after they got into legal trouble with the State of Minnesota.

 

[g9xmouse]

My first thoughts, You are a 10 year member of NP and can't differentiate between a genuine and spoof email.

No offence intended but I've no idea what the senders intention is apart from obtaining confirmation (by you) that your email is live and active. If this email is genuinely lacking all the basic information, Why are you treating it as genuine ??

Wouldn't be surprised if you get a further email telling you to Transfer a domain due to this so called 'Forums ' decision

I checked, and this is an arbitration institution in the United States recognized by ICANN.

 

[g9xmouse]

What basic information is it lacking?

It appears to be the normal text from an ADRForum.com UDRP default message. I'm not sure what the point of spoofing one might be since (a) most registrars don't disclose the registrant email by default and (b) it doesn't seem to have a practical purpose.

But, yes, oddly, the ADRForum does not generally identify the domain name in their case default messages, since the case is identified by the case number and parties.

One way to check pending, notified UDRP cases at ADRForum is to use their search function here:

https://www.adrforum.com/domain-dispute/search-decisions

Select "UDRP" for "Ruleset", leave everything else blank, and hit "search cases".

Then, use the >| button to scroll to the end of the list. Non-decided, pending cases are at the end pages.

Show attachment 258889

Expand to the list to 100 results:

Show attachment 258890

....and take a look.

Or hop back a page or two or three using the buttons shown above, since this case, if real, would have commenced 20 days ago, and they get a fairly steady rate.

One reason to have failed to receive notice would be if your email system, or some intermediate server, determined that the notice of commencement and its attachments were spam. Again, since that would have been 20 days ago, you might not be able to recover that by this point in time.

Another thing you might look at is the cc: list on that email, which should also have been copied to the attorney for the other side. If it is [email protected], then go to biglawfirm.com, take a look for a J. Doe in their roster, and ring them up. Although that might not be the best idea in the world if you have a defensible domain name in the first place.



Not generally. Once the case has been assigned to a panelist, the case manager will sometimes just forward anything received for the panelist to deal with if he wants, and we don't know the timing here. Expecting them to reply the same day is unrealistic. If they sent all of the required communications previously, they don't have any obligation to answer various correspondence they receive outside of what is procedurally required by the UDRP. They don't have to hold anyone's hand and walk them through the process. Plus, at this point, there are very limited options.

Thank you very much, but the arbitration ended the day after they notified me, and the decision was made to transfer my domain name. This is really disgusting.

 

[g9xmouse]

I personally find this incident very frightening for domain investors. I am also unclear why I did not receive an email asking for my response to the arbitration, and I am currently inquiring with my registrar.

 

[GeorgeK]

I hadn't received any prior email notifications about this issue. Why am I being told that I have not responded? How should I handle this situation when I don’t even know which domain name is under arbitration?

I responded to their emails, but received no response.

You should have also been sent a notice of the dispute by postal mail and fax (if available), as per the UDRP rules (assuming it involved a gTLD like com/net/org, etc. that are governed by the ICANN rules, as opposed to a ccTLD country code domain name that may have slightly different rules). See:

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/help/dndr/udrp-en
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/udrp-rules-2015-03-11-en

2. Communications
(a) When forwarding a complaint, including any annexes, electronically to the Respondent, it shall be the Provider's responsibility to employ reasonably available means calculated to achieve actual notice to Respondent. Achieving actual notice, or employing the following measures to do so, shall discharge this responsibility:

(i) sending Written Notice of the complaint to all postal-mail and facsimile addresses (A) shown in the domain name's registration data in Registrar's Whois database for the registered domain-name holder, the technical contact, and the administrative contact and (B) supplied by Registrar to the Provider for the registration's billing contact; and

(emphasis added)

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/udrp-rules-2024-02-21-en

2. Communications
(a) When forwarding a complaint, including any annexes, electronically to the Respondent, it shall be the Provider's responsibility to employ reasonably available means calculated to achieve actual notice to Respondent. Achieving actual notice, or employing the following measures to do so, shall discharge this responsibility:

(i) sending Written Notice of the complaint to all postal-mail and facsimile addresses (A) for the domain-name holder, administrative and technical contact (as applicable) shown in the domain name's Registration Data in Registrar's Registration Data Directory Service (hereinafter "RDDS") or listed in the Registration Data provided by the Registrar or Registry Operator when the Registration Data is redacted in the RDDS and (B) supplied by Registrar to the Provider for the registration's billing contact; and

(emphasis added)

 

[g9xmouse]

postal mail and fax (if available), as per the UDRP rules (assuming it involved a gTLD like com/net/org, etc. that are governed by the ICANN rules, as opposed to a ccTLD country code domain name that may have slightly different rules). See:

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/help/dndr/udrp-en
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/udrp-rules-2015-03-11-en



(emphasis added)

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/udrp-rules-2024-02-21-en



(emphasis added)

Yes, in all the arbitration cases I encountered in the past, I received these documents, but this time there was nothing.

 

[BaileyUK]

Thank you to everyone who has clarified the status of this decision making body, Clearly another cautionary lesson for any of those dealing in the applicable extensions.

I admit, I jumped the gun in assuming this had all the hallmarks of a spoof email. Just goes to show how much caution we need to employ when receiving emails about our domains. The use of the term 'Forum' for this particular body is a real curve-ball to my mind. At worse the original email may easily be interpreted as coming from some sort of debating group.

Don't know how many cases g9xmouse has encountered in the past but it reads that he sails close to the wind in his choice of domains. Maybe he felt safer in this particular domain territory . It certainly doesn't read as a innocent co-incidence and OP certainly hasn't claimed it was either.

Knowing your infringing on the legal status of an existing protected word/ing, Then subsequent losses shouldn't surprise anyone, least of all the registrant. lets face it even registration services retain the right to revoke domain registrations, so it could have happened at any level or time

 

[g9xmouse]

Thank you to everyone who has clarified the status of this decision making body, Clearly another cautionary lesson for any of those dealing in the applicable extensions.

I admit, I jumped the gun in assuming this had all the hallmarks of a spoof email. Just goes to show how much caution we need to employ when receiving emails about our domains. The use of the term 'Forum' for this particular body is a real curve-ball to my mind. At worse the original email may easily be interpreted as coming from some sort of debating group.

Don't know how many cases g9xmouse has encountered in the past but it reads that he sails close to the wind in his choice of domains. Maybe he felt safer in this particular domain territory . It certainly doesn't read as a innocent co-incidence and OP certainly hasn't claimed it was either.

Knowing your infringing on the legal status of an existing protected word/ing, Then subsequent losses shouldn't surprise anyone, least of all the registrant. lets face it even registration services retain the right to revoke domain registrations, so it could have happened at any level or time

Yes, I can accept the result of the domain name being arbitrated, but I cannot accept that the domain name was arbitrated without my knowledge. This is too uncomfortable.