Dispute resolution for .se

A dispute may arise about who is entitled to a .se domain name. On such occasions, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a simple alternative to going to court.

The rule for domain name allocation is the principle of "first-come, first-serve", the first party to apply for an available domain gets it without preliminary examination. If someone consider that they are entitled to a registered domain name, the allocation of this domain name may be appealed through ADR.

Speed, effectiveness and legal security are The Swedish Internet Foundation’s guidewords for ADR. The procedure is administered by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This means that the application, response and decision is administered via WIPO. You can read more about the administration at WIPO:s website. There you will also find an informal guide to the ADR proceeding.

Three prerequisites

In order for a party petitioning for dispute resolution to achieve success, that party must show that three prerequisites are met.

  • The applicant must have a right (e.g. a brand or company name) valid in Sweden.
  • The domain holder shall have acted in bad faith when he/she registered or used the domain name.
  • The domain holder shall also have no right or justified interest in the domain name.
Instructions pertaining to ADR

Read the instructions pertaining to ADR (paragraph 7) here.

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Arbitrators

ADR cases are decided by impartial arbitrators. The arbitrators that The Swedish Internet Foundation engage in ADR proceedings are:

  • Per Carlson, Senior Judge of Appeal, The Swedish Market Court
  • Jon Dal, Lawyer
  • Bengt Eliasson, Attorney-at-Law
  • Jonas Gulliksson, Attorney-at-Law
  • Peter Hedberg, Lawyer
  • Petter Rindforth, Lawyer
  • Johan Sjöbeck, Lawyer
  • Monique Wadsted, Attorney-at-law

The arbitrators make their decisions in light of the rules for ADR and the practice that has been developed. Should a conflict of interest arise, they must decline from deliberating on a particular matter. The arbitrators are impartial and independent from and The Swedish Internet Foundation. All of the arbitrators are experienced within intellectual property law and include professors, barristers and IT lawyers.

The arbitrator is appointed by the WIPO Center. If one of the parties instead wishes that the case shall be decided by three arbitrators, each partie appoints one arbitrator.

Rules for ADR

Terms and conditions of registration for the top-level domain .se

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Instructions governing ADR

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Privacy policy for ADR

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ADR Accelerated Proceeding

There is a possibility for the applicant to choose accelerated proceeding as a complement to standard ADR if the domain owner does not respond to the ADR application. When a case is handled as accelerated proceeding, the case is always tried by one arbitrator. The arbitrator shall consider all conditions applicable in a standard ADR case, however the arbitrator shall decide on the case within 10 days as opposed to 20 days. The decision is provided only with a brief explanation.

Because the accelerated proceeding is only applied if the domain owner do not reply to the application, a whole application fee, according to the table of  ADR costs, should be paid when the application is sent to WIPO. Read more about ADR Accelerated Proceeding.

The ideas behind ADR

Additional information about the ideas behind the regulations can be found in the document Memorandum: The ideas behind ADR (only in Swedish), which was created when ADR was introduced.