How long does a UDRP complaint take?

Most UDRP proceedings resolve in roughly 60 days from filing to decision, which is slower than a direct purchase but far faster than trademark litigation, and it can result in the domain being transferred to you directly.

How much does filing a UDRP complaint cost?

Filing fees for a single domain with a single panelist typically run in the range of $1,300 to $1,500 through WIPO or the Forum, though costs rise for multiple domains or a three-panelist request.

Do I need a registered trademark to file a UDRP complaint?

A registered trademark makes the case much stronger and easier to prove, but common law trademark rights, built through consistent, provable use of a business name in commerce, can also support a claim in many cases.

What if the squatter offers to sell me the domain directly instead?

It can be the faster option, but paying a squatter also sets a precedent and may not stop the same behavior from happening again with a different variant of your name. Many brand owners still prefer UDRP specifically to avoid rewarding the behavior.

Business owner reviewing a UDRP domain dispute complaint form on a laptop

Domain Security

Someone Registered Your Brand as a Domain? Here's How to Get It Back

Domain 360 Team

·July 16, 2026·3 min read

You go to register the dot-com for your growing brand, only to find someone already owns it — not using it for anything, just parked with ads, or worse, redirecting to a competitor. Or you discover it days after launch, when a customer mentions visiting your site and describing something you've never seen. This is cybersquatting, and it has a real, structured process for getting resolved.

Quick answer: If someone has registered a domain matching your trademark, you generally have two paths to get it back: a UDRP complaint through an ICANN-approved provider, or a direct buyout offer. UDRP is slower but effective, and it doesn't require paying the squatter anything.

Do You Actually Have a Case?

The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, or UDRP, requires you to prove three things: the domain is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark you hold rights to, the current registrant has no legitimate rights or interest in the domain, and it was registered and is being used in bad faith. Bad faith is usually the deciding factor — parking a domain purely to sell it back to you at an inflated price, redirecting it to a competitor, or using it to imitate your brand for phishing all qualify.

If someone registered a name similar to yours years before your brand existed and is genuinely using it for an unrelated purpose, you likely don't have a case — UDRP protects existing trademark rights, not a general claim on a phrase.

How to File a UDRP Complaint

Document your trademark rights — a registered trademark is strongest, but consistent commercial use of the name can also count. Screenshot dates, invoices, and any existing brand presence as evidence.
Document the bad-faith use — screenshots of the parked page, any redirect behavior, WHOIS history showing when it was registered relative to your brand's founding, and any attempt by the registrant to sell it to you.
Choose an ICANN-approved dispute provider — WIPO and the Forum handle the large majority of UDRP cases and both publish clear filing guides.
File the complaint with your evidence. The registrant then has a set window, typically 20 days, to respond.
A panelist reviews both sides and issues a decision — if it favors you, the registrar is ordered to transfer the domain to you directly.
If you don't have strong trademark grounds, a direct purchase offer through the registrant or a broker may be the more realistic path instead.

Faster (But Riskier) Alternatives

A direct offer to buy the domain can resolve things in days rather than months, but it also means paying someone for something you may have a stronger legal claim to, and there's no guarantee they'll negotiate in good faith once they know you want it. If you go this route, treat it like any other domain purchase — verify ownership, use escrow, and never send funds directly to the registrant outside a protected transaction.

Longer term, the cheapest defense is prevention: registering the obvious variants of your brand — plural, hyphenated, common misspellings, and your most relevant TLD alternatives — before you need them is dramatically less expensive than recovering them later. Our guide on protecting your brand with domain names covers that preventative side in full.

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