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.
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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.
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