Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy
(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 our website 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.