|
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 our website 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.
|