Registration Agreements
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 Domain Name
Registration Agreement, and sets forth the terms and conditions in connection with a
dispute between you and any party other than NetNameRegistry (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 here 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.
