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.
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