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Uniform Domain
Name
Dispute Resolution Policy
Policy Adopted:
August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved:
October 24, 1999
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Notes:
1. This policy is
now in effect. See www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm
for the implementation schedule.
2. This policy has
been adopted by all accredited domain-name
registrars for domain names ending in .com,
.net, and .org. It has also been adopted by
certain managers of country-code top-level
domains (e.g., .nu, .tv, .ws).
3. The policy is
between the registrar (or other registration
authority in the case of a country-code top-level
domain) and its customer (the domain-name
holder or registrant). Thus, the policy uses "we" and "our" to refer
to the registrar and it uses "you" and "your"
to refer to the domain-name holder.
Before Registering
Your Domain You Must Confirm your Agreement
by clicking on the button below
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
<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.
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concerning the layout, construction and functionality
of this site
should be sent to webmaster@icann.org.
Page
Updated 04-June-00
(c) 2000 The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers. All
rights reserved.
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