|
|
| Uniform Domain Name |
Dispute Resolution Policy
Policy
Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24, 1999
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 retract
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.
|
|
|
|
|
