| |
Dispute Policy
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:
•
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
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
•
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.
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:
•
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
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 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.
|
|
|