Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
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
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.
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 4(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. 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.
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