|
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy |
| (As Approved by ICANN on October
24, 1999) |
| 1. Purpose. |
| This Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
(the "Policy") has been adopted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers ("ICANN"), is incorporated by reference into your
Registration Agreement, and sets forth the terms and conditions in
connection with a dispute between you and any party other than us
(the registrar) over the registration and use of an Internet domain
name registered by you. Proceedings under Paragraph 4 of this Policy
will be conducted according to the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy (the "Rules of Procedure"), which are available
at www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-rules-24oct99.htm, and the selected administrative-dispute-resolution
service provider's supplemental rules. |
| 2. Your Representations. |
| By applying to register a domain name, or by asking
us to maintain or renew a domain name registration, you hereby represent
and warrant to us that (a) the statements that you made in your Registration
Agreement are complete and accurate; (b) to your knowledge, the registration
of the domain name will not infringe upon or otherwise violate the
rights of any third party; (c) you are not registering the domain
name for an unlawful purpose; and (d) you will not knowingly use the
domain name in violation of any applicable laws or regulations. It
is your responsibility to determine whether your domain name registration
infringes or violates someone else's rights. |
| 3. Cancellations, Transfers,
and Changes. |
We will cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes
to domain name registrations under the following circumstances:
- a. subject to the provisions of Paragraph 8, our receipt of
written or appropriate electronic instructions from you or your
authorized agent to take such action;
- b. our receipt of an order from a court or arbitral tribunal,
in each case of competent jurisdiction, requiring such action;
and/or
- c. our receipt of a decision of an Administrative Panel requiring
such action in any administrative proceeding to which you were
a party and which was conducted under this Policy or a later version
of this Policy adopted by ICANN. (See Paragraph 4(i) and (k) below.)
We may also cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes to a domain
name registration in accordance with the terms of your Registration
Agreement or other legal requirements. |
| 4. Mandatory Administrative
Proceeding. |
This Paragraph sets forth the type of disputes for
which you are required to submit to a mandatory administrative proceeding.
These proceedings will be conducted before one of the administrative-dispute-resolution
service providers listed at www.icann.org/udrp/approved-providers.htm
(each, a "Provider").
- a. Applicable Disputes. You are required to submit to a mandatory
administrative proceeding in the event that a third party (a "complainant")
asserts to the applicable Provider, in compliance with the Rules
of Procedure, that
- (i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar
to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has
rights; and
- (ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect
of the domain name; and
- (iii) your domain name has been registered and is being
used in bad faith.
In the administrative proceeding, the complainant must prove that
each of these three elements are present.
- b. Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes
of Paragraph 4(a)(iii), the following circumstances, in particular
but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall
be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad
faith:
- (i) circumstances indicating that you have registered or
you have acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose
of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain
name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the
trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant,
for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket
costs directly related to the domain name; or
- (ii) you have registered the domain name in order to prevent
the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting
the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you
have engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or
- (iii) you have registered the domain name primarily for
the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or
- (iv) by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted
to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web
site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of
confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship,
affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or location or
of a product or service on your web site or location.
- c. How to Demonstrate Your Rights to and Legitimate Interests
in the Domain Name in Responding to a Complaint. When you receive
a complaint, you should refer to Paragraph 5 of the Rules of Procedure
in determining how your response should be prepared. Any of the
following circumstances, in particular but without limitation,
if found by the Panel to be proved based on its evaluation of
all evidence presented, shall demonstrate your rights or legitimate
interests to the domain name for purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(ii):
- (i) before any notice to you of the dispute, your use of,
or demonstrable preparations to use, the domain name or a
name corresponding to the domain name in connection with a
bona fide offering of goods or services; or
- (ii) you (as an individual, business, or other organization)
have been commonly known by the domain name, even if you have
acquired no trademark or service mark rights; or
- (iii) you are making a legitimate noncommercial or fair
use of the domain name, without intent for commercial gain
to misleadingly divert consumers or to tarnish the trademark
or service mark at issue.
- d. Selection of Provider. The complainant shall select the
Provider from among those approved by ICANN by submitting the
complaint to that Provider. The selected Provider will administer
the proceeding, except in cases of consolidation as described
in Paragraph 4(f).
- e. Initiation of Proceeding and Process and Appointment of
Administrative Panel. The Rules of Procedure state the process
for initiating and conducting a proceeding and for appointing
the panel that will decide the dispute (the "Administrative Panel").
- f. Consolidation. In the event of multiple disputes between
you and a complainant, either you or the complainant may petition
to consolidate the disputes before a single Administrative Panel.
This petition shall be made to the first Administrative Panel
appointed to hear a pending dispute between the parties. This
Administrative Panel may consolidate before it any or all such
disputes in its sole discretion, provided that the disputes being
consolidated are governed by this Policy or a later version of
this Policy adopted by ICANN.
- g. Fees. All fees charged by a Provider in connection with
any dispute before an Administrative Panel pursuant to this Policy
shall be paid by the complainant, except in cases where you elect
to expand the Administrative Panel from one to three panelists
as provided in Paragraph 5(b)(iv) of the Rules of Procedure, in
which case all fees will be split evenly by you and the complainant.
- h. Our Involvement in Administrative Proceedings. We do not,
and will not, participate in the administration or conduct of
any proceeding before an Administrative Panel. In addition, we
will not be liable as a result of any decisions rendered by the
Administrative Panel.
- i. Remedies. The remedies available to a complainant pursuant
to any proceeding before an Administrative Panel shall be limited
to requiring the cancellation of your domain name or the transfer
of your domain name registration to the complainant.
- j. Notification and Publication. The Provider shall notify
us of any decision made by an Administrative Panel with respect
to a domain name you have registered with us. All decisions under
this Policy will be published in full over the Internet, except
when an Administrative Panel determines in an exceptional case
to redact portions of its decision.
- k. Availability of Court Proceedings. The mandatory administrative
proceeding requirements set forth in Paragraph 4 shall not prevent
either you or the complainant from submitting the dispute to a
court of competent jurisdiction for independent resolution before
such mandatory administrative proceeding is commenced or after
such proceeding is concluded. If an Administrative Panel decides
that your domain name registration should be canceled or transferred,
we will wait ten (10) business days (as observed in the location
of our principal office) after we are informed by the applicable
Provider of the Administrative Panel's decision before implementing
that decision. We will then implement the decision unless we have
received from you during that ten (10) business day period official
documentation (such as a copy of a complaint, file-stamped by
the clerk of the court) that you have commenced a lawsuit against
the complainant in a jurisdiction to which the complainant has
submitted under Paragraph 3(b)(xiii) of the Rules of Procedure.
(In general, that jurisdiction is either the location of our principal
office or of your address as shown in our Whois database. See
Paragraphs 1 and 3(b)(xiii) of the Rules of Procedure for details.)
If we receive such documentation within the ten (10) business
day period, we will not implement the Administrative Panel's decision,
and we will take no further action, until we receive (i) evidence
satisfactory to us of a resolution between the parties; (ii) evidence
satisfactory to us that your lawsuit has been dismissed or withdrawn;
or (iii) a copy of an order from such court dismissing your lawsuit
or ordering that you do not have the right to continue to use
your domain name.
|
| 5. All Other Disputes and
Litigation. |
| All other disputes between you and any party other
than us regarding your domain name registration that are not brought
pursuant to the mandatory administrative proceeding provisions of
Paragraph 4 shall be resolved between you and such other party through
any court, arbitration or other proceeding that may be available.
|
| 6. Our Involvement in Disputes. |
| We will not participate in any way in any dispute
between you and any party other than us regarding the registration
and use of your domain name. You shall not name us as a party or otherwise
include us in any such proceeding. In the event that we are named
as a party in any such proceeding, we reserve the right to raise any
and all defenses deemed appropriate, and to take any other action
necessary to defend ourselves. |
| 7. Maintaining the Status
Quo. |
| We will not cancel, transfer, activate, deactivate,
or otherwise change the status of any domain name registration under
this Policy except as provided in Paragraph 3 above. |
| 8. Transfers During a Dispute. |
- a. Transfers of a Domain Name to a New Holder. You may not
transfer your domain name registration to another holder (i) during
a pending administrative proceeding brought pursuant to Paragraph
4 or for a period of fifteen (15) business days (as observed in
the location of our principal place of business) after such proceeding
is concluded; or (ii) during a pending court proceeding or arbitration
commenced regarding your domain name unless the party to whom
the domain name registration is being transferred agrees, in writing,
to be bound by the decision of the court or arbitrator. We reserve
the right to cancel any transfer of a domain name registration
to another holder that is made in violation of this subparagraph.
- b. Changing Registrars. You may not transfer your domain name
registration to another registrar during a pending administrative
proceeding brought pursuant to Paragraph 4 or for a period of
fifteen (15) business days (as observed in the location of our
principal place of business) after such proceeding is concluded.
You may transfer administration of your domain name registration
to another registrar during a pending court action or arbitration,
provided that the domain name you have registered with us shall
continue to be subject to the proceedings commenced against you
in accordance with the terms of this Policy. In the event that
you transfer a domain name registration to us during the pendency
of a court action or arbitration, such dispute shall remain subject
to the domain name dispute policy of the registrar from which
the domain name registration was transferred.
|
| 9. Policy Modifications. |
| We reserve the right to modify this Policy at any
time with the permission of ICANN. We will post our revised Policy
at at least thirty (30) calendar days before it becomes effective.
Unless this Policy has already been invoked by the submission of a
complaint to a Provider, in which event the version of the Policy
in effect at the time it was invoked will apply to you until the dispute
is over, all such changes will be binding upon you with respect to
any domain name registration dispute, whether the dispute arose before,
on or after the effective date of our change. In the event that you
object to a change in this Policy, your sole remedy is to cancel your
domain name registration with us, provided that you will not be entitled
to a refund of any fees you paid to us. The revised Policy will apply
to you until you cancel your domain name registration. |
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