First .Tel UDRP Will Be Important

Dispute over osram.tel will test new top level domain.
Osram GmbH has filed the first ever UDRP dispute for a .tel domain name, going after the domain Osram.tel.
This should be an interesting case because of the differences between .tel and other top level domain names. In a UDRP, the complainant must prove three things:
1. The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights
2. The Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name
3. The domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith
The first requirement will be the same on .tel as other domains. But the second and third requirements will have to be proven in different ways than is sometimes done for “regular” domain names.
Typically, the complainant will point to the respondent’s web page or parked page and say that the respondent is making money from it. On .tel pages there are no official ads and content is limited. So it will be harder to show this. Complainants also point out when the respondent hasn’t used the domain name yet, saying this is proof he didn’t have plans to use the domain. But .tel domain names take 1 minute to set up to what would be considered a “developed domain”, so this will also be harder to use against the respondent.
I suppose one type of “bad faith” proof would be if a lawyer included his phone number on famouslawfirmname.tel to capture business from it. But I suspect .tel UDRPs will be a challenge for complainants.