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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 Internet Services, Inc. d/b/a Hosting Solutions
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. 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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