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Uniform
Domain Name Policy Adopted: |
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Notes: 1. This policy is now in effect. See www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm
for the implementation schedule. 2. This policy has been adopted by all accredited domain-name
registrars for domain names ending in .com, .net, and .org. It has also been
adopted by certain managers of country-code top-level domains (e.g., .nu,
.tv, .ws). 3. The policy is between the registrar (or
other registration authority in the case of a country-code top-level domain)
and its customer (the domain-name holder or registrant). Thus, the policy uses "we" and "our" to
refer to the registrar and it uses "you" and "your" to
refer to the domain-name holder. Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (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. Comments concerning the layout,
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