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15domains.com
Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
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"), 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(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.
We will post our revised 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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