Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy
(As Approved by ICANN on October 24,
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
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.register.com.cy/dispute.html
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.
Please review our Terms and
Conditions: Disclaimer, Registration Agreement, and Dispute Policy.