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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 ICANN-accredited registrars. 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 <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.
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