Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution
Policy
Policy Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: 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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