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(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 http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.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 belimited
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 Pargraphs 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 Domains 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 Domains 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 dispute_policy 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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