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Notes:
1. This policy is now in effect. See www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm
for the implementation schedule.
2. This policy has been adopted by all accredited domain-name
registrars for domain names ending in .com, .net, and .org. It has also been adopted by
certain managers of country-code top-level domains (e.g., .nu, .tv, .ws).
3. The policy is between the registrar (or other registration
authority in the case of a country-code top-level domain) and its customer (the
domain-name holder or registrant). Thus, the
policy uses "we" and "our" to refer to the registrar and it uses
"you" and "your" to refer to the domain-name holder.
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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. |