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.html,
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.html (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.
|