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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers ("ICANN")
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.
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
n 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
.htm#4i">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
ice 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
ant, 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
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,
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
plaint
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
nnection 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
pect 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
anceled 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
esolution 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
pate 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
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
o 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
vent 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.
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