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Model Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy for Voluntary Adoption by Registrars

Posted August 20, 1999

1. Purpose. This Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Policy") 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.

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. We do not check to verify, and 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;

c. our receipt of a decision of an Administrative Panel requiring such action in any administrative proceeding to which you were a party (as explained in Paragraph 4 below); and/or

d. to comply with the resolution of a dispute concerning your domain name under another registrar's domain name dispute resolution policy that is identical to this policy in all material respects.

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 <URL> (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 that Provider's rules of procedure, that (i) your domain name is identical or misleadingly 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.

b. Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(iii), the following, in particular but without limitation, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith: (i) offer to sell, rent or otherwise transfer 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; or (ii) your attempt to attract, for financial gain, Internet users to your website or other on-line location, by creating confusion with the trademark or service mark of the complainant; or (iii) your registration of a 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 a pattern of such conduct has been established on your part; or (iv) your registration of a domain name in order to disrupt the business of a competitor.

c. Selection of Provider. The Provider who will administer a particular proceeding shall be choose one [selected by the complainant] or [assigned by us].

d. Initiation of Proceeding and Process. Each Provider's rules of procedure state the process for initiating and conducting a proceeding and for selecting the panel that will decide the dispute (the "Administrative Panel"). The rules of procedure for each Provider appear at <URL>.

e. 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 selected to hear a pending dispute between the parties. This Administrative Panel may consolidate before it all such disputes in its sole discretion, provided that (i) such domain name registrations are governed by a domain name dispute resolution policy identical to this Policy in all material respects; and (ii) all of the disputes are before Providers listed at <URL>.

f. Fees. All fees incurred in connection with any dispute before an Administrative Panel pursuant to this Policy shall be paid as set forth in the relevant Provider's rules of procedure.

g. 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.

h. 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.

i. Notification and Publication. The Provider shall notify us of any decision made by one of its Administrative Panels with respect to a domain name you have registered with us. All decisions under this Policy will be published over the Internet, except when an Administrative Panel determines in its sole discretion not to have its decision published.

j. 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 cancelled or transferred, we will wait ten (10) calendar days after being 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 such ten (10) calendar day period a copy of a complaint, file-stamped by the clerk of the court, against the complainant regarding your right to use your domain name. If we receive such a complaint, we will not implement the Administrative Panel's decision, and we will take no further action, until (i) we are informed of a resolution between the parties; (ii) we are informed that your lawsuit has been dismissed or withdrawn; or (iii) we receive 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) calendar days 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) calendar days 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 (i) 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; and (ii) the new registrar has a domain name dispute policy under which it will recognize and implement any decision rendered in any such proceeding. 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. We will post our revised Policy at <URL> at least thirty (30) calendar days before it becomes effective. Unless this Policy has already been invoked, 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 or transfer your domain name registration to another registrar, provided that in the event of a transfer, 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 or transfer your domain name registration.

POLICY SIGNATORIES TO DATE

Alabanza, Inc.

America Online Incorporated

Animus Communications, Inc.

Domain Bank, Inc.

EnetRegistry.com Corporation

eNOM, Inc.

InfoNetworks, Inc.

Melbourne IT

Network Solutions, Inc.

Nominalia Internet S.L.

register.com

Tech Dogs, Inc.

TUCOWS.com, Inc.

WebTrends Corporation

APPROVED AND CONSENTED TO

World Intellectual Property Organization

© Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

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