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
http://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:
-
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;
-
our receipt of
an order from a court or arbitral tribunal,
in each case of competent jurisdiction,
requiring such action; and/or
-
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
http://www.icann.org/udrp/approved-providers.htm
(each, a "Provider").
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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).
-
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").
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 our website 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.
|
|
|