(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.
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