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 http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/uniform-rules.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 http://www.icann.org/dndr/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
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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