The UK High Court has ruled that there is no de novo court review of .uk domain name dispute resolution procedure decisions.

According to the decision of Mann J in Michael Toth v. Emirates, the issue of abusive registration of a .uk domain name may be determined only by an expert appointed under the Nominet Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) Policy.  That is to say, there is no independent cause of action for ‘abusive registration’ that may be pursued in a UK court.

The consequence of this ruling is that an unsuccessful party to a Nominet DRS action does not have an entitlement to seek a de novo review of the action by a UK court.