Policy
Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October
24, 1999 |

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Note:
This policy is now in effect. See www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm
for the implementation schedule.
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.
Page
Updated 03-January-00
(c) 2000 The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers. All rights reserved.
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