dotPH

The Bank of the Philippine Islands recently filed a suit against Joel Disini, the ccTLD administrator for PH domains. The suit stems from a dispute concerning the domain bpiexpressonline.com.ph.

BPI offers banking services via bpiexpressonline.com. However, BPI neglected to register the domain bpiexpressonline.com.ph, which was subsequently taken by someone else. BPI claims that the use of the .com.ph domain by someone else damages and disparages its good name. As a result they are seeking damages from Mr. Disini.

"It's probably a simple misunderstanding," said Disini. "They should file a dispute against the registrant under Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) instead."

dotPH, the Philippine domain registry, was one of the first Domain Registries in the world to implement UDRP.

UDRP provides a quicker and more economical alternative to court proceedings.

Disputes are heard by neutral bodies like the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and all evidence is filed online. Cases are usually resolved within 60 days and filing fees are as low as $1500.

In contrast, the pldt.com case has dragged on in the courts for over 3 years, with untold legal costs.
"The rules of UDRP may be unfamiliar to most people, but they are designed to protect trademark holders from the slow pace of the legal system in the Philippines", said Disini. 4,622 domain disputes have been handled via UDRP over the years in 109 countries.

On September 18, dotPH received a letter from BPI demanding that the domain bpiexpressonline.com.ph be blocked and deactivated. dotPH declined on the grounds that it would set a dangerous precedent -- that someone could shut down a PH website - any PH website - by simply claiming copyright infringement.

"Honoring such requests would open up a can of worms and wreak havoc with the PH domain system", said Disini. "If we did that, what would happen if, say, a company called Business Publications Inc. demanded that we take down the bpi.com.ph website?"

"Our expertise is providing robust and reliable domain name service. Intellectual property issues should be handled by trademark experts like WIPO."

dotPH responded to the BPI demand by again recommending that BPI resort to UDRP. dotPH is bound to implement the dispute resolution provider's decision.

"We have a quick and economical process in place to handle such situations", said Disini. "We hope that BPI gives that process a chance."

"The irony is that if they had filed with WIPO from the beginning, this would probably have been over by now."

To learn more about the dotPH Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy, visit the dotPH website at www.dot.ph