The
Tucows
OpenSRS compliance office seems to be working for WIPO now. They are completely ignoring the
registration agreement and are doing whatever WIPO tells them to do without
any notice to the registrant.
Another
party initiated a UDRP dispute
with WIPO against me. The
complainants prepared their complaint a couple
of weeks ago and WIPO initiated a dispute
at the end of April. During
the period between when the complainants prepared their complaint and when the
complaint was actually
initiated I happen to have moved to another state and set up
a new company.
After
the complaint is started I get the notice below. WIPO apparently ordered Tucows
to change the whois records back to historical date. The date, back to mid-April, just
happens to be the date the complainant downloaded the whois
and is not related to when the complaint was filed. I got the message below from WIPO that
has some serious
implications:
-WIPO
ordered the domain records changed to a historical value
well before the proceeding was initiated (not “during
an administrative proceeding” as they have tried to claim in the message below. They have changed the ownership of a
domain as well as the telephone number
(which no longer works). There are
supposed
to be only ways to transfer a domain ownership like this – (a) an order
from a UDRP panel and (b) a court
order. WIPO has no authority
to order changes in this manner.
-Tucows
went ahead and changed the records without
notifying me at all. I sent in
several e-mail messages and they refused
to respond. When I called and spoke
to the compliance officer Paul
Karkas he said he is just
doing what WIPO told him to do. When I explained that WIPO had no authority
to order such
changes, no standing to enforce an agreement between and Tucows
and I, and the Tucows
did not follow their compliance procedures
to provide me with notification I got no response other than “we will
look into it.” He refused
to return
the domain records back to the proper state. There is no explanation at all why the
telephone number
was changed as the phone number
is covered in any UDRP rule,
just
the ownership identity must
be frozen after the proceeding begins.
-Currently
the domain has a whois record that lists a company
that does not exist and a phone number
that is invalid. When I explained
that the whois record now violated the agreement I have
with Tucows
I was told that they did not delete domains with bad phone numbers. Of course
this is not in the agreement and not spelled out
anywhere in writing. Tucows
deletes domains on a regular
basis that contain bad registrant data.
Karkas now claims they only delete
domains with bad e-mail addresses and postal addresses but
not phone numbers.
I expect he made up
this rule
off the top of his head as I have never seen it in writing.
-In
the message below WIPO is trying to enforce the registration agreement. However, I have no agreement with WIPO
and I expect WIPO has no agreement with Tucows.
I have filed several complaints
against WIPO and WIPO has told me in the past that I don’t have “standing”
to complain about
decisions as I am not a party. I
have also filed complaints against the various
registries and I am always told I cannot file such
complaints because
the agreement is between the registrar and I. If I had any complaints I should
take them to the registrar … the company who has the written agreement
with me.
-I
have also been told that if I have a problem with the UDRP rules
the way they stand then I need to follow the ICANN process and bring my issues
to the relevant committees.
It
seems none of these rules
ally to Francis Gurry
and WIPO. They don’t need “standing,”
they enforce agreements when they aren’t even a party to the agreements, and
they change the UDRP rules
any way they want. Meanwhile the
hapless Tucows
compliance offer just
goes along with whatever WIPO says.
Tucows,
WIPO, and ICANN are so sure
of themselves that nobody will respond in writing. I have also now found
out
that this has happened several times before. WIPO is completely out
of control and nobody is willing to say anything.
Tucows
needs to overhaul
their management and compliance office or it will soon be another VeriSign.
Russ
Smith
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Domain.Disputes
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:
Friday,
May 03, 2002 10:34 AM
To:
wipo@consumer.net;
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject:
WIPO Case No.D2002-0377/Registrant Details
This
is to advise the parties that the concerned Registrar in this case, Tucows,
Inc., has reinstated the Respondent details to those specified in the
Complaint.
This
is on the basis that, under
subparagraph
8(a) of the UDRP, a domain name may not be transferred during
an administrative proceeding. Also under
that paragraph, the Registrar reserves the right to cancell
any transfer of a domain name registration that is done in violation of that subparagraph.
Sincerely
James
Barker
Case
Manager
WIPO
Arbitration and Mediation
Center
