ICANN | 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 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 http://www.yourdomainregistrar.com/udrp.html; 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.