Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
(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 Domain Name Registration Agreement,
and sets forth the terms and conditions in connection with
a dispute between you and any party other than NetNameRegistry
(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 here 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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