UniformDomain 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:
-
the
statements that you made in your Registration Agreement are complete
and accurate;
-
to
your
knowledge, the registration of the domain name will not infringe
upon or otherwise violate the rights of any third party;
-
you
are not
registering the domain name for an unlawful purpose;
-
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:
-
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;
-
our
receipt
of an order from a court or arbitral tribunal, in each case of
competent jurisdiction, requiring such action;
-
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) (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 PROCEEDINGS. 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
-
your domain name is identical or
confusingly similar to a trademark
or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and
-
you
have no
rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
-
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:
-
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
-
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
-
you
have
registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting
the business of a competitor; or
-
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):
-
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
-
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
-
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 of
initiating and conducting a proceeding and appointing the panel that
will resolve 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 that are to be 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 to 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 between 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:
-
evidence
satisfactory to us of a resolution between the parties;
-
evidence
satisfactory to us that your lawsuit has been dismissed or
withdrawn;
-
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:
-
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
-
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 This business is closed
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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