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Uniform Domain
Name
Dispute Resolution Policy
Policy Adopted: August
26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24,
1999
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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, construction and functionality of this site
should be sent to webmaster@icann.org.
Page Updated
04-June-00
(c) 2000 The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers.
All rights
reserved.
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