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):
- 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
- 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
- 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 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.
