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(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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