(As Approved
by ICANN on October 24, 1999 and implemented by Order
Your Web, inc. on December 1, 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 http://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 http://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)(iv),
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 online 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. |