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.
(c) 2000 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
dotFM · 760 Market St. Ste.958 · San Francisco CA 94102
Tel: 1.888.697.2860 · Fax: 1.888.418.2782 ·
International - Tel: +1.415.677.4027 · Fax: +1.415.677.4025
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