So, I received an email from WIPO and my registrar that a domain i own may be trademark property of some one else who actually owns the .com and demands the .net. I have not yet received a detailed report from WIPO. The owner has filed the dispute through WIPO I wish to know, What are the kind of aligations that can be brought, if i agree to give the domain to them? What are the WIPO fee structure like? What type of legal advisers can i consult, in India. Any help would be appreciated.
Well, the trademark holder can still pursue whatever "damages" (if any) are allowed under any applicable law. More often than not, though, they stop with the domain just given to them. WIPO's fees are in their web site wipo.int, though it doesn't cost the respondent anything if they choose to respond to the domain dispute on their own. Without knowing how it works, your chances of winning (again, if any) are essentially slim to none. You can consult any licensed lawyer or barrister with real-world experience in trademark law there. They're the only ones who can tell you after looking at any and all facts of your specific dispute, and beware of whoever might post here to tell you to just ignore that or tell them to screw off.
To Start a dispute the opponent needs to pay around $1500. And to respond i need to pay around $300+ Is it not so?
Only the complainant pays the $1500 or so fees to start the dispute. The respondent or domain holder, though, can opt to pay extra if s/he wants an additional panelist up to 3. For example, the complainant pays the fees and gets only one panelist. You don't have to pay any extra fees if you want to rebut the dispute yourself, and you can pay extra if you want to add another panelist (maximum of three per dispute) on top of the one that the complainant already got. If the complainant got all three panelists, not one more can be added to them. You can still dispute without paying any extra fees, other than maybe retaining a lawyer or so. Makes sense?
Thanks David, does make sense. In Simple way according to you, if a respondent is willing to get the decision done by ONE PANELIST then he dosen't need to pay anything to response pdf sent to wipo. But look http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/gtld/info/sunrise/fees.html here.
That's for the original "sunrise" period when .info domains were first offered to early folks who wanted to get them before being finally open to the public, and if someone wanted to dispute another's "rights" to it. Kinda funny it's still there since that's a decade ago.