| |
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.
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.
Page Updated
03-January-00 (c) 2000 The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers. All rights reserved. |