|
 |
Account Information |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Who Is |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
DISPUTE POLICY |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) 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 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.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|