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Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
(As
Approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999
and implemented by eNom, Inc., on
December 1, 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
http://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 http://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
www.enom.com/drp.asp 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.