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Policy
Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24, 1999 |

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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 (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 www2.i-mecca.net/service/urdp.html
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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