(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.
(SeeParagraph
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 inParagraph
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.
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