|
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
22-Feb-2007
©2000, 2002
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
All rights reserved.
|
