.US Domain Dispute Resolution Policy

The .US domain name has a dispute resolution policy that is similar to the United States Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the ICANN Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy (UDRP) and can be found at http://www.neustar.us/ustld-dispute-resolution-policy/. To bring an administrative action, the complainant must assert that:

  1. the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights;
  2. the domain name holder has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
  3. the domain name has been registered in bad faith or is being used in bad faith.

Bad faith can be shown if:

  1. circumstances indicating that the domain name was registered or acquired 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 documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name;
  2. the domain name was registered in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name;
  3. the domain name was registered primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or
  4. the domain name was registered to intentionally attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to a website or other online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant’s mark as to source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement.

There is also a procedure for disputing a sufficient nexus with the United States of another domain name holder. Current dispute resolution providers include the National Arbitration Forum and the American Arbitration Association.

This and the following posts have been copied or adopted from A Legal Guide To The INTERNET – Sixth Edition, published through a collaborative effort by the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development and Merchant & Gould.

All Domain Name Dispute Posts