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.