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)(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 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 http://www.register.com/new-dispute-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.