Uniform Domain
Name Dispute Resolution Policy
Policy Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24, 1999
Note: This policy is now in effect. See http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm
for the implementation schedule.
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-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 http://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.
© 2000 The Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers. All rights reserved.
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