(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 http://www.domainpeople.com/revision/dispute.html 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.