Sole panelist – Adv. Jonathan Agmon
Decision given on January 12, 2023
Background and claims of the parties:
The Petitioner filed a petition to the Dispute Resolution Procedure of the Israel Internet Association (RA) for the transfer of the rights in the domain name “גלובס.ישראל” (the “Domain Name”), which is held by the Respondent.
The parties informed the panel that they had reached an agreement according to which the Respondent would transfer the Domain Name to the Petitioner. The panel was asked to give final approval to the agreement of the parties and a refund of the proceeding fees, or a part of them, was also requested, in view of the agreement of the parties.
Decision:
In light of the agreement of the parties, the petition was granted in full and the panel ordered that the Domain Name be transferred to the Petitioner.
As to the request for a refund of proceeding fees: The dispute resolution rules limit the panel’s authority. The panel’s authority is restricted to the question of whether the allocation of the Domain Name to the holder should be revoked. The proceeding fees, their rate, and the payment date are predetermined in the rules. There is no provision in the rules stating that the proceeding fees can be refunded. Once the petition has been submitted, the proceeding fees have been paid and the panel has been established, the panel cannot deviate from the rules and order the reimbursement of the proceeding fees or part thereof. This is also accepted in other domain name dispute resolution procedures.
The above is a summary of the decision. For the full decision, click here [PDF]