GOpenCDR name dispute policy

What this policy decides

Who is entitled to a name, where somebody claims a better right to it than the person holding it. It applies to every second-level name in a TLD Gelhaus Solutions hosts and to every TLD string in the GOpenCDR root. Registrants accept it with the GOpenCDR terms. A self-hosted TLD may adopt a dispute policy of its own; where it has none, this one applies.

It is not a content policy. What a website under a name says is not decided here, and neither is abuse, which goes through the acceptable use policy.

Second-level names

When a complaint succeeds

A complaint succeeds where the complainant shows all three of the following:

1. the name is identical or confusingly similar to a name or a trademark in which the complainant has rights;
2. the registrant has no right to the name and no legitimate interest in it;
3. the name was registered, or is being used, in bad faith.

Bad faith includes registering a name mainly to sell it to the rights holder or a competitor for more than it cost; registering it to keep the rights holder from using it, as part of a pattern of such registrations; registering it mainly to disrupt a competitor; and using it to draw people in for gain by creating confusion with the complainant's name or mark.

A legitimate interest includes using the name, or demonstrably preparing to use it, for a genuine offer before any notice of the dispute; being commonly known by the name; and making fair or non-commercial use of it without intending to mislead.

How a complaint is made

By email to egelhaus@ennogelhaus.de with "Name dispute" in the subject line, in English or German. Name the domain and the right you rely on, give the evidence for each of the three grounds, and say what you ask for. Filing is free.

What happens

1. Lock. Once a complete complaint arrives, the name is locked against transfer and against a change of holder until the dispute ends. It keeps resolving.
2. Response. The registrant is told at the account's address and has 20 days to respond with evidence.
3. Decision. A panelist decides on the written submissions within 14 days of the response or of the deadline for it. Tier 0 appoints the panelist for the case, from people independent of both parties, and the panelist declares any conflict of interest before accepting.
4. Reasons. The decision gives its reasons and is published, with the names of private individuals removed.
5. Implementation. A decision to transfer or cancel is carried out 10 working days after it is sent to the parties, unless the registrant shows within that time that proceedings about the name have been brought in court. In that case nothing changes until the court decides or the proceedings end.

What a decision can do

Transfer the name to the complainant, cancel it, or reject the complaint. Nothing else: no damages, no costs and no order about content. Where the panelist finds that a complaint was brought in bad faith to take a name from somebody entitled to it, the decision says so.

The courts

Nobody is barred from going to court, before, during or after a dispute, and a court's decision always prevails over a decision under this policy.

TLD strings

Before delegation

A proposed TLD string is open for public comment for 14 days before it is delegated. Within that period anyone may object on one of these grounds:

• Legal rights: the string infringes the objector's trademark or name.
• Confusion: the string is confusingly similar to a string in GOpenCDR, in the IANA root or on a reserved list. The collision checks already refuse confusable strings; an objection can raise what they miss.
• Community: a substantial part of a community the string clearly targets objects to it.
• Public interest: the string is contrary to generally accepted norms of morality and public order recognised in international law.

The council that decides on new TLDs decides the objection with reasons, having heard the proposer, before it decides the delegation. Tier 0's veto on grounds of security or law applies as the governance charter sets out.

After delegation

A rights holder who says a delegated TLD string infringes their right may complain on the same three grounds as for a second-level name. The council that manages existing TLDs decides, with the TLD operator heard and recused from the vote. A decision against a string ends its delegation through a sunset in which registrants are told and have at least six months to move their names, never through abrupt removal.

Changes

This policy changes through the process in the governance charter, after public comment. Every version is kept in the document archive.