Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
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/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 http://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
Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 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.