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.
Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy