Registrar's Dispute Policy
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
(As Approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999
and implemented by Bizcn.com, Inc. on April 8,
2003)
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 online 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.
style='mso-tab-count:1'> 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.cnobin.com/new-dispute-policy 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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