- SCHEDULE
A
- IP
Claim Service
- Terms
Of Use
- THIS
IS A LEGALLY BINDING AGREEMENT BETWEEN TUCOWS, INC. (“REGISTRAR”) AND
YOU, THE OWNER OF A REGISTERED OR COMMON LAW TRADEMARK OR SERVICE MARK
(“OWNER”) OR THE DULY AUTHORIZED AGENT OF AN OWNER (“AGENT”)
(COLLECTIVELY, “YOU”). THESE
TERMS OF USE ARE THE COMPLETE AND EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF THE TERMS OF USE
REGARDING USE OF THE REGISTRAR’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CLAIM SERVICE (THE
“SERVICE”).
- BY
SELECTING “I AGREE,” BY USING THE SERVICE OR BY SIGNIFYING ACCEPTANCE IN
ANY OTHER WAY, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS OF USE.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL OF THESE TERMS OF USE, YOU ARE NOT
AUTHORIZED TO USE THE SERVICE AND YOU MUST DISCONTINUE ANY FURTHER USE.
- 1.
The Service.
Registrar provides
the Service to holders of both registered and common law trademarks or
service marks (collectively “Trademarks”).
During the domain name application process, applicants for a .biz
domain name (“Applicants”) will be notified of an Owner’s alleged
intellectual property rights in a Trademark if the domain name contained in
the domain name application is an exact match of the Trademark identified in
an IP Claim (as defined below) submitted by Owner.
You may review frequently asked questions regarding the Service by
reviewing our FAQs.
- 2.
Registration, Password and Security.
You must provide accurate, complete and current registration
information and must update this information promptly if it changes.
- You
represent and warrant that You are at least eighteen (18) years of age or
older and are either an Owner or an Agent duly authorized to represent an
Owner(s) in connection with the Service and submitting an IP Claim on behalf
of an Owner(s). Agent will
indemnify and hold harmless Registrar and its officers, directors,
employees, agents, affiliates and subcontractors for any claims brought by
Owner or Third Parties relating to the use of the Service.
- 3.
License to Use Data / Privacy.
By submitting an IP Claim, You hereby grant Registrar, as well as any
of its agents or subcontractors, a limited, royalty-free, non-exclusive
worldwide license to use all of the data contained in the IP Claim solely
for the purposes of implementing the Service, processing Your IP Claim,
notifying Applicants of Your IP Claim, and for notifying You of changes to
the Service, for archival purposes.
- 4.
The IP Claim Process.
In order to submit a claim with respect to a Trademark or Trademarks
(“IP Claim”) through the Service, You must complete an IP Claim
form for each Trademark. For
each IP Claim, You must submit complete contact information, representative
contact information and notification details, and the details regarding the
Trademark. You may specify in
the representative field that an Agent may receive legal correspondence
regarding the IP Claim. Once
You have submitted an IP Claim, you will receive a confirmation email and a
claim number. You must retain
the claim number for each IP Claim You submit.
- Registrar
will accept IP Claims until July 9, 2001, or such later date as it may
determine in its sole discretion (“Close of Phase I”) and no IP Claims
will be accepted after that date.
- From
the Close of Phase I until September 25, 2001 (“Phase 2”), or such other
later date as Registrar may choose, in its sole discretion, the domain name
applications from ICANN-approved registrars (“Applications”) will be
compared with the database of IP Claims processed through the Service (“IP
Claim Database”). For each
exact match between an IP Claim in the IP Claim Database and a domain name
application, the Registry Operator for .Biz (“Registry Operator”) will
notify the Applicant that a third party or third parties have submitted an
IP Claim for the exact Trademark. The
email notification to the Applicant will include, among other things, the
information provided by Owner in the IP Claim, instructions on how to
proceed with the registration process, and that if selected during the
randomized name selection phase (“Name Selection Phase”), the domain
name will be placed on a temporary thirty (30) day hold when the Registry
goes “live.” The Applicant
will have the option to proceed with the Application or cancel the
Application. If the Applicant
does not respond to the email notification, or elects to cancel the
Application, the Applicant’s domain name application will not be
processed during the Name Selection Phase.
If the Applicant chooses to proceed with the registration process and
the name is selected during the Name Selection Phase, that domain name
automatically will be placed on a thirty (30) day “hold period” when the
name is registered.
- After
Name Selection, the Owner will be notified by Registry Operator if an
Applicant has successfully registered the domain name.
The Owner will then have the option of contacting the Applicant and
finding a solution or using the guidelines set forth by a special dispute
resolution process called the Start-up Trademark Opposition Policy (“STOP”)(formerly
referred to as the Start-up Dispute Resolution Policy or “SUDRP”)
(“information available at http://www.neulevel.com/countdown/stop.html, or
the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Procedures (“UDRP”)
(information is available at http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm).
- You
will not be notified if there are no Applications that exactly match an IP
Claim You submitted in the IP Claim Database.
- USE
OF THE SERVICE DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT AN OWNER WILL BE AWARDED THE .BIZ
EXTENSION FOR ITS TRADEMARK. AN
OWNER THAT WISHES TO OBTAIN A .BIZ EXTENSION FOR ITS TRADEMARK MUST FILE A
DOMAIN NAME APPLICATION.
- DOMAIN
NAME APPLICANTS WILL ONLY BE NOTIFIED OF APPLICATIONS THAT ARE EXACT MATCHES
WITH A TRADEMARK IDENTIFIED IN AN IP CLAIM FORM.
REGISTRAR WILL NOT VERIFY WHETHER A TRADEMARK CLAIMED ON AN IP CLAIM
FORM CORRESPONDS WITH AN ACTUAL, LEGAL OR VALID TRADEMARK, NOR WILL
REGISTRAR PROVIDE ANY LEGAL OVERSIGHT OR ADJUDICATION FOR ANY DISPUTED
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IMPLICATED BY THE SERVICE.
- 5.
Conduct.
You may access and use the Service for lawful purposes only and you
are solely responsible for the knowledge and adherence to any and all laws,
statutes, rules and regulations pertaining to Your use of the Service.
You agree that You will not (i) use the Service to commit a
criminal offence or to encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal
offence or give rise to a civil liability, or otherwise violate any local
state, Federal or international law or regulation; (ii) upload or
otherwise transmit any content that You do not have a right to transmit
under any law or contractual or fiduciary duty; (iii) interfere or
infringe with any trademark or proprietary rights of any other party; (iv) interfere
with the ability of other users to access or use the Service; (v) claim
a relationship with or to speak for any individual, business, association,
institution or other organization for which You are not authorized to claim
such a relationship; (vi) interfere with or disrupt the Service or
servers or networks connected to the Service, or disobey any requirements,
procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Service; or
(vii) reproduce, duplicate, copy, use, distribute, sell, resell or
otherwise exploit for any commercial purposes any portion of the Service.
- 6.
Fees.
As consideration for the Service, You agree to pay Registrar, or its
agents or subcontractors, as the case may be, an IP Claim fee for each IP
Claim submitted through the Service by credit card through its online
payment system. Such fee shall
be due immediately and is non-refundable.
Registrar, or its agents or subcontractors, may take all remedies to
collect fees owed. Registrar,
or its agents or subcontractors may require you to submit and pay for each
IP Claim individually or it may allow you store up a certain number of IP
Claims before submitting them for processing.
Once you have stored that number of IP Claims, you may not be able to
store any additional IP Claims and may need to submit them for processing
and pay the applicable fee before obtaining additional storage space.
No refunds are permitted.
- 7.
Agents.
You agree that, if Your agent (e.g., an attorney, employee,
etc.) submits an IP Claim on Your behalf, You are nonetheless bound as a
principal by all Terms of Use herein. Your continued use of the Services
shall ratify any unauthorized actions of Your agent. By acting on Your
behalf, Your agent certifies that he or she is authorized to use the Service
on Your behalf, that he or she is authorized to bind You to these Terms of
Use and that he or she has apprised You of these Terms of Use of this
Agreement. In addition, You are
responsible for any errors made by Your agent.
Registrar will not refund fees paid by You or Your agent on Your
behalf for any reason, including, but not limited to, in the event that Your
agent fails to comply with these Terms of Use, Your agent incorrectly
provides information in the IP Claim process or if Your agent changes or
otherwise modifies Your IP Claim incorrectly.
- 8.
Copyright.
You acknowledge that the Service, any underlying technology
used in connection with the Service, and all software, material,
information, communications, text, graphics, links, electronic art,
animations, audio, video, photos, and other data (collectively, the
“Content”) available within the Service are provided by Registrar or
third-party providers and are the copyrighted works of Registrar and/or such
third parties. Except as
expressly authorized by Registrar or such third parties in these Terms of
Use or as may be posted on the Service, You may not copy, reproduce,
publish, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, rent, lease, sell,
transfer, display, transmit, compile or collect in a database, or in any
manner commercially exploit any part of the Content or the Service, in whole
or in part. You may not store
any significant portion of any Content or the Service owned by, or licensed
to Registrar in any form, whether archival files, computer-readable files,
or any other medium. You also
may not “mirror” any Content or the Service on any other server.
- Registrar
encourages you to download and print a reasonable number of copies of an IP
Claim for non-commercial, internal use only;
provided that (i) any permitted copies contain, in unmodified form, any
copyright or other proprietary rights notices and an original source
attribution to the Service; and (ii) no modifications are made except
as may be expressly provided by Registrar.
- 9.
Links.
Some links on the Service lead to sites posted by independent site
owners. Because Registrar has
no control over these sites, it cannot be responsible for such sites’
accessibility via the Internet and does not endorse products, services, or
information provided by such sites. As
such, Registrar shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly,
for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection
with, use or reliance on any content, goods or services available on or
through any other site. Further,
the inclusion of these links does not imply that the other sites have given
permission for inclusion of these links, or that there is any relationship
between Registrar and the linked sites.
- 10.
Disclaimer of Warranty, Limitation of
Liability.
YOU AGREE THAT YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR OWN
RISK. NEITHER REGISTRAR NOR ITS
PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, SHAREHOLDERS, MEMBERS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS,
EMPLOYEES, AFFILIATES, AGENTS OR SUBCONTRACTORS WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE
WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE; NOR DO THEY MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE
RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE OR AS TO THE
ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR CONTENT WITHIN THE SERVICE.
- THE
SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS, “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSES AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
- IN
NO EVENT WILL REGISTRAR NOR ITS PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, SHAREHOLDERS,
MEMBERS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AFFILIATES, AGENTS OR
SUBCONTRACTORS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INCIDENTAL,
INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), ARISING OUT YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS
OR USE THE SERVICE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF REVENUE OR
ANTICIPATED PROFITS, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOST BUSINESS, LOST DATA, COMPUTER
FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER DAMAGES OR LOSSES THAT RESULT
FROM MISTAKES, INACCURATELY ENTERED DATA, UNAUTHORIZED USE, OMISSIONS,
INTERRUPTIONS, ERRORS, DEFECTS, DELAYS IN OPERATION, OR ANY FAILURE OF
PERFORMANCE, WHETHER OR NOT LIMITED TO ACTS OF GOD, COMMUNICATIONS FAILURE,
THEFT, DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO INSTITUTIONS RECORDS, PROGRAMS
OR SERVICES. YOU AGREE THAT THE
FOREGOING LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY REPRESENT A REASONABLE ALLOCATION OF
RISK.
- IN
NO EVENT, SHALL REGISTRAR BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY AMOUNT EXCEEDING THE
AMOUNT OF FEES PAID BY YOU FOR THE APPLICABLE IP CLAIM.
- 11.
Indemnification.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Registrar and its parents,
subsidiaries, shareholders, members, officers, directors, employees,
affiliates, agents and subcontractors from any claim or demand, including
reasonable attorney’s fees made by any third party due to or arising out
of Your use of the Service, your breach of these Terms of Use, any Content
submitted to the Service, or any disputes involving the intellectual
property rights of the Trademarks.
- 12.
Modifications to the Service.
Registrar reserves the right at any time and from time to time to
modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part
thereof) with or without notice. You
agree that Registrar will not be liable to You or to any third party for any
modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Services.
- 13.
Termination.
You may discontinue Your participation in and access to the Service
at any time. These Terms of Use
will continue to apply to all past use of the Service by You, even if You
are no longer using the Service. You
acknowledge and agree that Registrar may terminate or block Your use of all
or part of the Service without prior notice for any reason, including,
without limitation, if Registrar believes You have engaged in conduct
prohibited by these Terms of Use. You
agree that upon termination or discontinuance for any reason, may delete all
information related to You on the Service and may bar Your access to and use
of the Service.
- 14.
Governing Law.
These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the
laws of the Province of Ontario, without regard to its principles of
conflicts of law.
- 15.
Changes to the Terms of Use.
Registrar reserves the right to modify the Terms of Use at any time
and from time to time. Any
modifications shall be effective upon the posting of the modified Terms of
Use at http://ipclaims.neulevel.com/legal/conditions.php.
You agree to review these Terms of Use periodically so that You are
aware of any modifications. Your
continued use of the Service shall be deemed Your acceptance of the modified
Terms of Use.
- 16.
Severability.
In the event that any provision of these Terms of Use shall be
unenforceable or invalid under any applicable law or be so held by
applicable court decision, such unenforceability or invalidity shall not
render this Agreement unenforceable or invalid as a whole, and, in such
event, such provision shall be changed and interpreted so as to best
accomplish the objectives of such provision within the limits of applicable
law or applicable court decision.
- 17.
Third Party Beneficiary.
Registry Operator (“NeuLevel”) is an intended third party
beneficiary of these Term and Conditions with rights to enforce these Terms
of Use. You will cooperate in
good faith with NeuLevel or Registrar in investigating instances of
non-compliance with these Terms of Use, if NeuLevel or Registrar believes in
good faith that you are not in compliance with these Terms of Use.
- 18.
Subcontractors.
In the course of providing the IP Claim Service, Registrar may retain
independent contractors or assign or subcontract to or otherwise have any
third party perform any or all of the IP Claim Service at any time, provided
that Registrar shall continue to remain responsible for full performance of
any such duties to the same extent as if it had performed the IP Claim
Service itself.
- 19.
Entire Agreement.
These Terms of Use completely and exclusively state the agreement of
the parties regarding the subject matter, and supersede all prior agreements
and understandings, whether written or oral, with respect to the subject
matter of these Terms of Use.
- 20.
Modifications to your Account.
In order to change any of your account information with Registrar,
you must use the Account Identifier and Password selected when you opened
your account with Registrar. You
agree to safeguard your Account Identifier and Password from any
unauthorized use. In no event
shall Registrar be liable for the unauthorized use or misuse of your Account
Identifier or Password.
- 21.
Breach.
You agree that failure to abide by an provision of this Agreement,
any operating rule or policy or the Dispute Policy provided by Registrar,
may be considered by Registrar to be a material breach and that Registrar
may provide a written notice, describing the breach, to you.
If within thirty (30) calendar days of the date of such notice, you
fail to provide evidence, which is reasonably satisfactory to Registrar,
that you have not breached your obligations under the Agreement, then
Registrar may delete the registration or reservation of your domain name.
Any such breach by you shall not be deemed to be excused simply
because Registrar did not act earlier in response to that, or any other
breach by you.
- 22.
No Guarantee.
You acknowledge that reservation of your IP Claim name does not
confer immunity from objection to either the registration, reservation, or
use of the domain name.
- 23.
Right of Refusal.
Registrar, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to refuse to
register or reserve your IP Claim name or register you for other services.
You agree that Registrar shall not be liable to you for loss or
damages that may result from its refusal to register, reserve or delete your
IP Claim.
- Registrar
reserves the right to delete or transfer your IP Claim within a thirty (30)
day period following receipt of the application if it believes the IP Claim
has been made possible by a mistake, made either by Registrar or by a third
party.
-