(As Approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999
and implemented by Hostcats.com, on December 1, 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 http://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
http://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.hostcats.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.
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