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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.
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.
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.
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 defences deemed appropriate, and to take any other
action necessary to defend ourselves.
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.
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.
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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