The .pw Registry just announced it is the first TLD to adopt ICANN’s latest rights protection mechanism, the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS).

The URS is in the Applicant Gudebook for new gTLD’s.

“The URS seeks to provide trademark holders with faster protection against infringement than the existing Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). “

“While the UDRP, a more expensive and long process, awards ownership of a domain to the winner of a dispute, the URS ensures faster protection by immediately suspending the infringing domain and then proceeding to a trial. The URS also discourages infringement and wrongful cases by charging trial fees from the unsuccessful applicant” according to the press release.

Sandeep Ramchandani, Business Head of the .PW  Registry said, “Proactive abuse mitigation is one of our primary tenets.  URS offers brand owners a highly effective, quick and inexpensive mechanism to eliminate names that violate their trademarks. We are glad to be leading from the front by becoming the first extension globally to adopt it. ”

Kristine Dorrain, Director of Internet and IP Services, National Arbitration Forum (NAF) commented, “The National Arbitration Forum is pleased that .pw Registry has selected the URS as one of its dispute resolution options.

“Currently, .pw Registry is the first and only voluntary adopter of URS, in advance of the new gTLD program. 

“The adoption of URS, in addition to UDRP, demonstrates .pw Registry’s commitment to protecting the .pw domain name space from cybersquatting activity.”

Personally I think it will be interesting to see how many trademark holders take advantage of the URS.

For domain holders getting hit with a URS your response  is greatly limited compared to a UDRP and therefore I think if the .PW registry was going to adopt the URS it should have done so before launch.

To adopt the URS now after launch and after domains have been sold at auction, I believe to be unfair to registrants.