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
21-Sep-2005
©2000, 2002 The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. All
rights reserved.
|