| 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.
Page Updated
03-January-00
(c) 2000 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. All
rights reserved.
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