Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
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. 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. |