UDRP

General top domains, i.e. those not affiliated to a specific country, offer solutions for alternative dispute resolution.

As far as most general top domains are concerned, e.g. .com, .net, .org, .info and .biz, the rules of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) apply. The rules were developed and introduced by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which acts as a steering body for the internet's top domains.

The UDRP has been in operation since 1999 and is very similar to the Swedish dispute resolution system for .se names, and large parts of this have constituted a model for them the latter. Like the other alternative dispute resolution systems, it was as the name suggests an alternative to the traditional tools such as the courts. On the one hand, it only deals with clear-cut cases of abuse, but on the other, it is a very fast and cost-effective alternative.