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:Domain.Disputes@wipo.int]
Sent: Friday, May 03, 2002 10:34 AM
To: wipo@consumer.net; dberlin@levberlin.com
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
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