Registrar's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
(As Approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999
and implemented by PakNIC Private Limited on June 1, 2007)
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. 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
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 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.
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, in particular but without limitation, 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 selecting 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 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 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 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 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 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
http://www.paknic.com/terms/UDRP.aspx 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.