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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.
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