(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.