Note:
This policy is now in effect.
See www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm
for the implementation schedule.
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 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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