Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
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Uniform Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Policy
Policy Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24, 1999
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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 /pravilaCOM.html 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.
All rights reserved.
