How to submit a complaint

Submit a complaint using our online form:

You are here because Mediation has been unsuccessful for your domain name dispute, and you want an Expert to make a decision on who should be the registrant for the domain name you are disputing.

Please only submit a complaint if you are willing to pay the Expert Determination fees. More information about Expert Determination can be found at the following link:

Expert Determination Information.

We have included additional information and guidance below for parties about to submit a complaint. We strongly recommend that people read this information before submitting a complaint.

Submit your complaint.

How to write and submit your complaint:

The complaint argument section of the form is the most important part of your submission. This is your opportunity to share your evidence with the expert.

How an expert may use your dispute argument

If your dispute is referred to an expert, they’ll determine the outcome using the information you share in the complaint, and any documents you supply to support your case. The expert bases their decision on two important factors:

• whether you have rights to a name that is identical or similar to the domain name in dispute
• whether the registration of the domain name by the current registrant is unfair.

To succeed, you must prove that ‘on the balance of probabilities’, both factors are present.

Our Dispute Resolution Service Policy has information on other items to discuss (see paragraph 6). It also gives definitions of terms such as ‘rights in a name" and ‘unfair registration’

View our Dispute Resolution Service Policy

Format and documents for your dispute

Your argument can be up to 2,000 words long. 

We recommend you write your argument first in a Word document or another text editor, and save it. If you write your argument online and you lose your internet connection, you’ll also lose what you’ve written.

You can support your dispute with other documents, such as:

• letterhead and advertising material showing your use of the name
• birth or marriage certificates for personal names
• trademarks or designs registered with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand or the Companies Offices.

We also have the following resources that may be of benefit: 

Database of all previous Expert Decisions

List of selected Case Summaries of Expert Decisions

Please note: The Expert will only be provided with the information that you submit, we enourcage parties to submit as much evidence as they can to back what they detail in their complaint. 

What happens after you submit your dispute?

We check your complaint: When you submit your complaint, we check it thoroughly to make sure it complies with our policy and procedure. For example, we need to be sure that the complaint: 

• is about a .nz domain name 
• names the current registrant correctly
• is in the correct format, signed, and there are four copies of the dispute and supporting documents.  

If your complaint doesn’t comply, we’ll send it back to you. You have 3 days to correct it and return it to us. If you don’t meet the deadline, the complaint will be withdrawn, but you can submit another complaint.

Once we have a valid complaint, we send it to the current registrant of the domain name. We give them correspondence explaining what is happening, our brochure describing the Dispute Resolution Service, and a copy of the Dispute Resolution Service Policy.

Every time we formally correspond with the current registrant, we’ll send a copy of that correspondence to the you. Similarly, all correspondence with the registrant will be copied to the current registrant. 

If the party submits a response, you will be given an opportunity to submit a reply. Timeframes will be explained in correspondence both parties receive.

If they do not submit a response or following your opportunity to file a response, you will be able to proceed to Expert Determination following the payment of the determination fee.