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.