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Legal Notices
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Dispute Policy
Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
(As Approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999
and implemented by #1 Domain Names International, on January
6, 2000)
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/dndr/udrp/uniform-rules.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.1dni.com/legal/dispute-policy.htm
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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