| Uniform Domain
Name Dispute Resolution Policy
(As Approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999 and implemented by SilentRegister.com,
on January 1, 2003)
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 http://www.silentregister.com/legal/dispute.php
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. |
