The World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO-AMC) widens the range of extrajudicial procedures it administers to resolve disputes relating to ccTLDs domain names registered. Internet Computer Bureau (ICB), the registry of .AC (Ascension Island), .SH (Saint Helena) and .IO (British Indian Ocean Territory) has designated WIPO-AMC to administer the .AC, .IO and .SH domain name disputes.
The acDRP, ioDRP and shDRP formula differs from the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). Firstly, as regards proof of bad faith of the domain name holder, the cumulation rule is set aside. As a reminder, this rule requires the complainant to prove that the holder has registered the domain name in bad faith, and he is using it in bad faith. In a little more than twenty years of existence, panelists have somewhat emptied this rule of its substance, to the point that many would qualify the cumulative rule as obsolete. Consequently, in a dispute relating to a .AC, .IO or .SH domain name, it will suffice for the complainant to prove the defendant’s bad faith either on the day of registration or in the use of the domain name, either both. Second, the Dispute Resolution Policy (DRP) contains a jurisdictional clause designating the English judge (Dispute Resolution Policy, Art . 3k). Such a clause could not exist in the UDRP, which is a fundamentally a-national system. Third, the language of the procedure designated by the DRP is English (DRP Rules, Art. 11).
Like .TV, or .LA, .AC, .IO and .SH are unique in that they are not often associated with the territory to which they are attached. Thus, .AC is often used for “academic”. .IO often refers to by computer Input / Output. Finally, the .SH is frequently used for words ending with “sh”.
