Uniform Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Policy
Policy Adopted: August 26, 1999
Implementation Documents Approved: October 24, 1999
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 www.mginternet.com
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.
(c) 2000 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
All rights reserved.
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