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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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