Domain 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
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 http://www.icann.org/ 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.
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