Towards an improved UDRP and platform policies (e-commerce marketplace, search advertising, social media, mobile app and metaverse platforms) for digital trade marks and brands

This research analyses and makes recommendations for the UDRP and e-commerce marketplace, search adverting, social media, mobile app, and metaverse platform trade mark policies. It introduces the Digital Trade mark and Trade Practices Model, an adapted model developed from the problems identified for digital trade marks (on the Internet). The model is informed by pertinent theories and concepts, select aspects of the EU and U.S. and other legal frameworks, as well as existing policies, and forms the basis of the recommendations made. Ultimately, a uniform policy is recommended for each platform in line with a working approach, the UDRP, adapted based on the elements of the model and applied to platforms in a way that provides a comprehensive workable solution fostering legal certainty. It provides the actual text for the proposed adapted UDRP as well as the uniform policies recommended for each type of platform.

This research is published as: R. Sachdev, Digital Trademarks and Brands: Towards an Improved UDRP and Platform Policies (Kluwer Law International), Oct 2025