Uniform Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Policy |
(As Approved by ICANN on
October 24, 1999) |
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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
providerīs supplemental rules. |
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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 elseīs rights. |
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3. Cancellations, Transfers, and Changes. We
will cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes to domain name
registrations under the following circumstances: |
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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; |
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b. our receipt of an order from a court or arbitral
tribunal, in each case of competent jurisdiction,
requiring such action; and/or |
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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.) |
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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.
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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"). |
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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. |
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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 complainantīs 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. |
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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. |
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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). |
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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"). |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 Panelīs
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 Panelīs 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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8. Transfers During a Dispute. |
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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. |
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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 pendancy 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. |
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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.netsol.com/en_US/legal/dispute-policy.jhtml
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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