Domain names, monitoring and dispute resolution
Hi, I’m Tim Brown, and I work in brand protection with a particular focus on domain names – strategy, monitoring, dispute resolution and online enforcement.
I have spent over two decades working almost exclusively in this space, advising global organisations on how to identify, assess and respond to domain name risk across different jurisdictions and regulatory environments. My work ranges from large-scale monitoring programmes through to complex, precedent-sensitive disputes, and is shaped by long exposure to how enforcement systems operate in practice, rather than how they are described in theory.
I write about domain names, dispute systems, online abuse and the less visible mechanics of the internet. The articles here are practical in nature: case notes, explainers and observations drawn from real work. They reflect how I think about problems in this area, rather than how those problems are usually framed.
Selected writing
My writing is grouped by theme rather than chronology. Each link below leads to a tagged collection of articles, maintained as an ongoing reference.
Domain name disputes (DRS and UDRP)
Case notes and analysis from domain name disputes, including evidential issues, procedural points and decisions at the margins.
Domain name disputes, UDRP, DRS, RDNH
Domain monitoring and enforcement
Watching, prioritisation and enforcement activity, including fraud, impersonation and counterfeit use.
Domain watch, Brand protection, Counterfeit, Cybercrime, Renewal scams
Policy, registries and governance
Registry policy, dispute frameworks and governance issues across the domain name ecosystem.
ICANN, Nominet, AFNIC, DENIC, nic.at, Verisign, Network Solutions, New gTLDs
Internet infrastructure and data
DNS, Whois and related infrastructure, written from an operational and enforcement perspective.
Domain name, WhoIs, IDN, Web3, Metaverse
Automation, tooling and intelligence
Monitoring systems, data analysis and the practical limits of automation in enforcement work.
Artificial intelligence
Professional background
I currently lead the brand protection function at Com Laude, where I am responsible for domain name strategy, monitoring, dispute resolution and online enforcement for global clients. I lead the function from Edinburgh, with responsibility for team leadership and office oversight, and am a director of one of Com Laude’s UK group companies.
Alongside my core role, I serve as an independent Expert for Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) in the .uk domain space, and previously sat on Nominet’s .uk Policy Stakeholder Committee.
Before joining Com Laude, I held senior leadership roles at Demys, including Director of Brand Protection and Operations Director, and was involved in the development of its domain monitoring and enforcement capability.
A fuller account of my professional background is available here.