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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 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.
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 4(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. 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.
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