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.