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
http://www.amplex.net/udrp.htm 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.
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