Uniform Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Policy
(As Approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999
and implemented by NameTech, LLC, on July 13, 2001)
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 http://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 http://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 our registrar. We will post our revised Policy
at www.nametech.com/disputepolicy 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. |