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The World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center became the first UDRP provider to launch paperless proceedings on December 14, 2009. A UDRP is an administrative proceeding through which a trademark owner can seek the cancellation or transfer of a domain which incorporates its mark and was registered and is being used in bad faith. Within the first four days of its availability, more than 40 paperless domain name disputes were filed.
The more efficient option is expected to save trademark owners time and money and so far the procedure has gotten positive reviews by users. The new procedure is scheduled to become mandatory for all UDRP providers on March 1, 2010. Since prior UDRP filings were estimated to consume up to 1 million pages of paper each year, the new process demonstrates environmental responsibility while acknowledging the accepted use of Internet-based communication.