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Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy Policy Adopted:
August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24, 1999
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.
(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/orc. 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 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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