SIDN, the registry responsible for the administration of the .nl Dutch country-code top-level domain, has launched a new alternative dispute resolution procedure for .nl domain names, to be provided by WIPO. This new procedure, a variation of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy, will replace the current scheme which has been in operation for the past five years, hearing 28 cases in 2007.

The new procedure protects a wider array of rights, now encompassing -- in additrion to trade marks and trade names -- commonly and publicly-used personal names registered in one of the key Dutch municipal administrations, names of Dutch public legal entities and names of foundations or associations located in the Netherlands. Further, either registration or use in bad faith must be established, rather than both (source: article in World Trademark Report by David Taylor and Brechtje Lindeboom, Lovells LLP, Paris).