(As
approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999)
(Not applicable to co.za and .org.za Domain Names)
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.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 Pargraphs 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. 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.
