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.