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. 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.
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.ulimit.com/en/dispute-policy.php
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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