(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.