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Uniform Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Policy
Policy Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24, 1999 |
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.
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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