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.
