Notes:
1. This policy is now in effect. See www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm
for the implementation schedule.
2. This policy has been adopted by all accredited domain-name
registrars for domain names ending in .com, .net, and .org. It has
also been adopted by certain managers of country-code top-level
domains (e.g., .nu, .tv, .ws).
3. The policy is between the registrar (or other registration
authority in the case of a country-code top-level domain) and its
customer (the domain-name holder or registrant). Thus, the policy
uses "we" and "our" to refer to the registrar and it uses "you" and
"your" to refer to the domain-name holder.
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 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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