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 <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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