Good point Marc and thanks for your comment. You’ll notice I said “likely be transferred” to allow for those exceptions. My research indicates that often times cases are not decided on merit alone (as they should be). What you write is indeed my hope: that a panelist(s) will be truly impartial and decide the case strictly on available facts regardless of the complainant’s status as a well known corporation.

Not true. Although you are correct, that you should (almost) always respond to a UDRP complaint, the complainant does not win by default if you don’t answer. This is arbitration, not court, and the arbitrator has a responsibility to independently evaluate the claim — and that could even include going beyond what is presented in the complaint and response (if any).

One up-side to this peculiarity is that even when a respondent doesn’t reply, they can still prevail.