Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
(As Approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999)
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.
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.
Cancellations, Transfers, and Changes.
We will cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes to
domain name registrations under the following circumstances:
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;
Our receipt of an order from a
court or arbitral tribunal, in each case of competent
jurisdiction, requiring such action; and/or
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Transfers During a Dispute.
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. 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.
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 this location 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.