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.
