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Uniform Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Policy
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.
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 <URL> 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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and functionality of this site
should be sent to webmaster@icann.org.
Page Updated 03-January-00
(c) 2000 The Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers. All
rights reserved.
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