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- Uniform Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Policy -
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 on this page 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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