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 www.opensrs.org
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. |