(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.