ICANN UNIFORM DOMAIN NAME DISPUTE RESOLUTION POLICY
Note - When a domain name holder reserves a domain name, the following
"policy" contractually controls the obligations to which that holder
agreed. Agreements to arbitrate disputes are favored under federal law.
The following Policy therefore controls possession of domain names.
Purpose
Representations
Cancellations, Transfers, and Changes
Mandatory Administrative Proceeding
All Other Disputes and Litigation
Involvement in Disputes
Maintaining the Status Quo
Transfers During a Dispute
Policy Modifications
Policy Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24, 1999
Note: This policy is now in effect. See www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-schedule.htm for the implementation schedule.
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
- the statements that you made in your Registration Agreement are complete and accurate;
- to your knowledge, the registration of the domain name will
not infringe upon or otherwise violate the rights of any third party;
- you are not registering the domain name for an unlawful purpose; and
- 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:
- 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;
- our receipt of an order from a court or arbitral tribunal, in each case of competent jurisdiction, requiring such action; and/or
- 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").
- 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
- your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and
- you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
- 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.
- 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:
- 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
- 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
- you have registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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").
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- evidence satisfactory to us of a resolution between the parties;
- evidence satisfactory to us that your lawsuit has been dismissed or withdrawn; or
- 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.
- Transfers of a Domain Name to a New Holder. You may not transfer your domain name registration to another holder
- 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
- 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.
- 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.