Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
Policy Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved:
October 24, 1999
Note: This policy is now in effect.
See www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm
for the implementation schedule.
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 <URL> 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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