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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. |