UDRP or court: recovering a domain someone took first

Someone has registered your brand as a domain and wants five figures for it, or worse, is running ads on it. You have two realistic routes: a complaint under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, or court. For most cybersquatting cases the UDRP is the right tool, but it is a narrow tool, and knowing where its edges are saves you from filing a complaint that was always going to lose.

What you must prove, all three, every time

A UDRP panel orders transfer only if the domain is identical or confusingly similar to a mark in which you have rights; the registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in it; and it was registered and is being used in bad faith. The conjunctive last element is where complaints die. A domain registered before your trademark rights existed is almost never registered in bad faith, however objectionable the current use. If your rights are recent and the registration is old, stop and take advice before filing, because a lost UDRP is public and follows the brand.

The evidence that actually persuades panels

Registration certificates or solid evidence of unregistered rights with dates. Screenshots of the resolving site, archived captures showing pattern of use, and the offer-to-sell correspondence, which is often the single most persuasive exhibit. Evidence the registrant has done this before: reverse WHOIS and prior UDRP decisions against the same party build the bad-faith picture quickly. Passive holding is not fatal to a complaint; panels have found bad faith in non-use since the earliest decisions, where the mark is distinctive and no good-faith use is plausible.

Speed, cost and the limits of the remedy

A single-member panel case typically resolves in around two months from filing, for provider fees in the low four figures plus drafting. The only remedies are transfer or cancellation. No damages, no costs, no injunction against the person. If you need compensation, or the dispute is really about a broader infringement, or the registrant has a colourable legitimate-interest story, court (including statutory cybersquatting claims where available) is the correct venue despite the cost. For new-gTLD domains, URS offers a faster, cheaper suspension, but suspension is not transfer, and for a domain you actually want, UDRP remains the route.

Before you file anything

Check the registration date against your rights. Preserve evidence before sending any demand, because sites change the day a letter lands. And weigh silence: a demand letter prices your interest, and with a sophisticated squatter, filing without warning is often the cheaper path.