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 <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. |