Join.law End-User Agreement
Introduction
Join.law (hereinafter referred to as 'Registrar', or 'we') AND you (hereinafter referred to as 'Customer' or 'you') have agreed to be bound Registrar's Terms and Conditions effective from 10 May 2018, of which this 'Domain Name End User Agreement' shall be considered part of our Terms and Conditions. WHEREAS, Registrar is authorized to provide Internet registration and management services for select New gTLDs. WHEREAS, the Customer wishes to purchase Registration and/or Management and/or Renewal and/or Transfer of select New gTLDs. NOW, THEREFORE, for and in consideration of the mutual promises, benefits and covenants contained herein and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt, adequacy and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, Registrar and the Customer, intending to be legally bound, hereby agree as follows:
1. Definitions
- 'TLD' refers to .COM, .NET, .ORG, .AERO, .ASIA, .BIZ .CAT, .COOP, .INFO, .JOBS, .MOBI .MUSEUM, .NAME, .PRO, .TEL, .TRAVEL, and .XXX.
- 'gTLD' refers to .COM, .NET, .ORG, .AERO, .ASIA, .BIZ .CAT, .COOP, .INFO, .JOBS, .MOBI .MUSEUM, .NAME, .PRO, .TEL, .TRAVEL, and .XXX.
- 'New gTLD' refers to New Generic Top-Level domains which may include any of the domain name extensions specified in Appendix A
- 'Customer' refers to the party submitting an order and entering into this agreement with the Registrar.
- 'Domain Order' refers to an Order fulfilled by the Customer through the Registrar under this Domain Name End User Agreement
- 'End User Agreement' refers to this specific agreement and appendixes
- Registrant refers to an entity either an individual or business in whose name the domain has been registered
- 'Registrar' refers to the Registrar of a Domain Order as in the Domain Management Database and/or shown in the Whois Record;
- 'Registry Operator' refers to the Organization/Entity that maintains the registry of a TLD root level zone for a Domain name order;
- 'Whois Record' refers to the collection of all data elements of the Domain Order, specifically its Registrant Contact Information, Administrative Contact Information, Technical Contact Information, Billing Contact Information, Nameservers if any, its Creation and Expiry dates, its Registrar and its current Status in the Registry;
- ICANN refers to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is the regulatory authority that is designated for managing all gTLD domain names.
- 'RAA' refers to ICANN's 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement.
- IDN is an acronym for Internationalized Domain Name. IDN domain names are a domain name that includes language scripts that is not based on the standard 26 character alphabet used by the English language.
2. Obligations to the Customer
- The Customer must ensure that the Registrant of each Domain Order must agree to be bound by the terms and conditions set forth by the Registrar of the Domain Name during the term of the Domain Order including the uses of any personal data of the Registrant. The Customer must familiarize themselves with such terms. The Customer acknowledges that the Registrar has various rights and powers as mentioned in the Registrar's terms and conditions. Registrar is not liable for any action taken by Registrar pursuant to the Registrar's terms and conditions, Acceptable Use Policy, or this End User Agreement. The Customer acknowledges and agrees that the Customer shall indemnify Registrar of, and shall be responsible for any liability resulting from Registrants' noncompliance with such terms and conditions.
- The Customer will not make any changes to any information associated with the Domain Order without explicit authorization from the Registrant of that Domain Order.
- The Customer must comply with all applicable terms and conditions, standards, policies, procedures, and practices set in place by ICANN, the Registrar and of the Registry Operator of their respective name spaces including policies regarding Sunrise period, Landrush period (or similar applicable phase), Early Access period if applicable, and General Availability period, premium name policies ( a list of Registry Operators and links to the policy documents are included in Appendix A) and further to acknowledge that the respective Registry and Registrar have no liability of any kind for any loss or liability resulting from the proceedings and processes relating to the sunrise period or the land rush period, including, without limitation: (a) the ability or inability of a registrant to obtain a Registered Name during these periods, and (b) the results of any dispute over a sunrise registration.
- The Customer must provide complete and accurate details of the Registrant (commonly known as the license holder of the domain name) and must have explicit consent to provide such data to Registrar and inform them of the uses of the personal data as set out in the Privacy Policy. The details they must provide include the full name, company/organization name (if applicable), full postal address, email address, voice telephone number, fax number (if applicable). Where the registrant is a legal entity, a name of a natural person representing the company/organization must be provided. Should any of these contact details change during the term of the registration license period, the Customer must ensure that the registrant details are updated within 7 days of these details changing.
- The Customer may not willfully provide false or misleading registrant contact details. Should any details provided are found to be inaccurate or incomplete; the Customer must ensure that the registrant details are updated within 7 days of the original submission. It is the responsibility of the Customer to ensure that registration detail for the domain name license are complete and accurate and failing to provide complete or accurate details constitutes a material breach of this agreement.
- The Registrar may request for the Customer to verify the contact details of themselves and additionally the registrant of a domain name record. Should the Registrar request to validate information, and the Customer fails to respond within 15 days, the Registrar may suspend and/or cancel the domain name registration. Failing to respond to such requests from the registration constitutes a material breach of this agreement.
- The Customer acknowledges that the registrant (the registered name holder) of a domain is responsible for providing its own full contact and information and as of consequence is responsible for the use of the domain name and assumes all liability associated with using this domain name. Should the registrant license the use of a domain name to a third party, the registrant must provide full and valid contact details of the licensee within 7 days of such information being requested. Any such requests may be required, should there be sufficient evidence of actionable harm. Additionally, it is the responsibility of the registrant to notify the third-party licensee of the domain name of all Customer obligations as defined in this agreement (End User Agreement), and to acknowledge and abide by these terms, our Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Policy.
- If a registrant is collecting and maintaining sensitive health and financial data, they must comply with applicable laws on the provision of such services and including security measures applicable to that sector.
- Customer agrees that any Services provided by the Registrar will be used for lawful purposes and will not use the Services to engage in activities such as the distribution of malware, abusively operating botnets, phishing, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement, fraudulent or deceptive practices, counterfeiting or otherwise engaging in activity contrary to applicable law, this is defined further in our Acceptable Use Policy within the Terms and Conditions. Should such activity occur of any of the Services held by You, Registrar reserves the right to suspend, lock or otherwise disable the domain name or website.
- Customer acknowledges and agrees to be bound by our Privacy Policy, and our Terms and Conditions.
- Customer acknowledges that registration and renewal fees for some domain names in any applicable domain extension are variable and shall differ from registration and renewal fees for other domain names within that same TLD. This includes but is not limited to non-standard pricing for Premium Domain Name registration and renewal fees, which differs from the pricing of Standard Domain Names. Customer further acknowledges that the registration, renewal and transfer fees for each applicable TLD are variable.
- Customer acknowledges and consents for us to use their personal details for the primary purpose for which it is collected (eg. provision of our services, including administration of our services, notification to you about changes to our services, record-keeping following termination of our services to you and technical maintenance, compliance with laws, and to such third parties in providing the services). As a Registrar, we are required to pass on your full name, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and email address to the domain registry when you apply to register, renew, or transfer a domain name to us. This function is required to facilitate registration and to ensure registry records are correct and current. We may use such information related to the primary purpose of collection and also for circumstance where you would reasonably expect that we would use the information. This information is only disclosed to persons outside our business in the circumstances set out in the Privacy Policy or as otherwise notified to you at the time of collection of the information.
- Registrar is committed to compliance with high standards of Data Privacy as set out in the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU, Customer data and end user data are kept securely and safely and are used to offer you a better service. Please refer to the Privacy Policy to understand how we use collect and process personal data and about your rights and the rights of the registrant.
- The Customer must acknowledge that we as a Registrar are required to store/record all domain name information including WHOIS data from domain name records of TLDs, gTLDs, and New gTLDs for a limited-period after the domain name is deleted or transferred away from our Registrar sponsorship. We are required to this in accordance with ICANN's RAA for the purpose of protecting the rights of the registrant. Registrar reserves the rights to delete such personal data and only retain such data as required to comply with other lawful and statutory obligations. Registrar may redact, delete and or anonymize such data in its sole discretion.
In addition, we are permitted to use or disclose personally identifiable information held about you:
- Where you have consented to the use or disclosure;
- Where we reasonably believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious, immediate threat to someone's health or safety or the public's health or safety;
- Where we reasonably suspect that unlawful activity has been, is being or may be engaged in and the use or disclosure is a necessary part of our investigation or in reporting the matter to the relevant authorities;
- Where such use or disclosure is required under or authorized by law (for example, to comply with a subpoena, a warrant or other order of a court or legal process);
- Where we reasonably believe that the use or disclosure is reasonably necessary for prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of crimes or wrongdoings or the preparation for, conduct of, proceedings before any court or tribunal or the implementation of the orders of a court or tribunal by or on behalf of an enforcement body.
The Customer must also ensure that the registrant agrees and acknowledges our Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy and this End User Agreement.
3. Rights of Registrar
Registrar and Service Providers, in their sole discretion, expressly reserve the right to freeze, delete, suspend, deny, cancel, modify, take ownership of or transfer any Domain Order, in order to comply with any applicable Dispute policies or recognized Dispute processes, requests of law enforcement or recognized security organizations such as CERT, or in compliance with any Court Orders, or if Registrar or Service Providers in their sole discretion determine that the information associated with the Domain Order is inaccurate, or has been tampered with, or has been modified without authorization, or if Registrar or Service Providers in their sole discretion determine that the Domain Order ownership should belong to another entity, or if Customer/Registrant does not comply with any applicable terms and conditions, standards, policies, procedures, and practices laid down by Registrar, Service Providers, ICANN, the Registrar and the Registry Operator. The Customer agrees that Registrar and Service Providers, and the contractors, employees, directors, officers, representatives, agents and affiliates, of Registrar and Service Providers, are not liable for loss or damages that may result from any of the above being undertaken.
4. Time
In the event of any dispute concerning the time of the entry of a Registered Name registration into the Registry System, the timestamp shown in the Registry System records shall control.
5. Eligibility Criteria
.law and .abogado are restricted top-level-domains (TLDs) that aim to promote trust in the professional legal community by creating exclusive online spaces in which Qualified Lawyers and Authorized Legal Institutions (i.e., law firms, law schools, Legal Regulators such as bar associations and courts of law) can present themselves in a distinctive and memorable manner. In order to fulfill this mission, the .law and .abogado TLDs will offer domain names only to those verified applicants who satisfy the Eligibility Criteria as set out in this .law and .abogado Eligibility Policy. The strict Eligibility Criteria, which will be applied through a verification process, will enhance the integrity of the .law and .abogado TLDs.
As the .law and .abogado TLDs are open to registrations from anywhere in the world, what constitutes a Qualified Lawyer or Authorized Legal Institution may vary between jurisdictions. For this reason, the Registry for .law and .abogado reserves the right to ask, including through its verification agent, for any further proof of eligibility it considers appropriate and to exercise its complete discretion in the verification of registrants to ensure that the spirit of the Eligibility Criteria is met.
In order to register a domain name in the .law and .abogado TLDs, the full official name of the registrant must be recorded in the Name and/or Organization fields in the Registrant Contact information of the relevant whois record AND the registrant must be one of the following:
- A Qualified Lawyer: A professional who is licensed by a Legal Regulator to practice law. A Qualified Lawyer must be identifiable as a currently-licensed practitioner in the public records kept by the relevant Legal Regulator (a lawyer with inactive or non-practicing status who is not authorized to provide regulated legal services under the rules of their Legal Regulator is not eligible under this Eligibility Policy).
- A Law Firm: A partnership or incorporated entity formed by one or more Qualified Lawyers to engage in the practice of law. In jurisdictions where applicable, a Law Firm must be authorized by a Legal Regulator to provide legal services.
- A Court of Law: An organization of government enacted by international, national, or state legislation that has the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in a given jurisdiction.
- A Law School: An institution approved by a Legal Regulator or a recognized regulator of education to provide academic or vocational legal education as part of a process for becoming a Qualified Lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
- A Legal Regulator: An institution that is enacted and/or approved by international, national, or state legislation to regulate the provision of legal services in a given jurisdiction.
The Registry for .law and .abogado reserves the right to engage an independent verification agent to carry out the verification of applicants against the Eligibility Criteria in this Eligibility Policy. The .law and .abogado registry reserves the right for the independent verification agent to contact applicants in order to request any further information or supporting documentation that it deems necessary to satisfy itself as to whether or not an applicant meets the requirements of this Eligibility Policy.
Authorized Legal Institutions
- The full official name of the Legal Institution (e.g., John Smith Law Firm);
- The official name of their Regulator or Governing body (e.g., The State Bar of California) or other regulatory or overseeing body, if applicable (Accreditor Name Field);
- The year of their accreditation with their Legal Regulator or other regulatory or overseeing body or of their formation (Accreditation Year Field);
- Their license number or other identifying reference as recorded with their Regulator or Governing body, if applicable (Accreditation ID Field); and
- The jurisdiction in which they are based (Accreditation Jurisdiction Country plus State/Province/Region Fields, as applicable).
6. Indemnification
Customer and Registrant agree to release, defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Registrar, and All Registry Providers used by the Registrar, ICANN, ICANN's approved registries, our nominated WHOIS Privacy agent, Data Escrow providers, extending to all subsidiaries, affiliates, shareholders, agents, directors, officers and employees of these previously mentioned entities from and against any and all claims, demands, liabilities, losses, damages or costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, arising out of or related in any way to incurred by Registrar directly or indirectly arising from:
(i) Customer's and/or Registrant's use of and access to this Site or the Services found on our web site;
(ii) Customer's and/or Registrant's violation of any provision of this Agreement or the policies or agreements which are incorporated herein; and/or
(iii) Customer's and/or Registrant's violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any intellectual property or other proprietary right.
7. Registrant Representations and Warranties
The Registrant meets, and will continue to meet for the whole of the Term, any and all eligibility criteria prescribed in the Registry Policies for registering and using the domain name in the TLD and the Registry has the full discretion to determine, in its sole election (and/or by its designated and authorized agents to determine) that the Registrant does not meet the eligibility criteria, or no longer meets the eligibility criteria, and in such case the Registry has the right to suspend, transfer, delete, or terminate services to the Registrant without written notice (including without imitation deletion of the Registrant's domain name(s) in the TLD).
The Registrant represents and warrants that they have not previously submitted an Application for registration of a domain name for the same character string where:
- the Registrant is relying on the same eligibility criteria for both domain name Applications; and
- the domain name application has previously been rejected.
For the .LAW TLD: The Registrant hereby warrants and agrees to (i) comply with all applicable laws, including those that relate to privacy, data collection, consumer protection (including in relation to misleading and deceptive conduct), fair lending, debt collection, organic farming, disclosure of data, and financial disclosures; and (ii) in the event the Registrant collects and maintains sensitive health and financial data, the Registrant must implement reasonable and appropriate security measures commensurate with the offering of those services, as defined by applicable law.
For the .ABOGADO TLD: The Registrant hereby warrants and: (i) agrees to comply with all applicable laws, including those that relate to privacy, data collection, consumer protection (including in relation to misleading and deceptive conduct), fair lending, debt collection, organic farming, disclosure of data, and financial disclosures; (ii) agrees that, in the event the Registrant collects and maintains sensitive health and financial data, the Registrant must implement reasonable and appropriate security measures commensurate with the offering of those services, as defined by applicable law; (iii) agrees to provide administrative contact information, which must be kept up-to-date, for the notification of complaints or reports of registration abuse, as well as the contact details of the relevant regulatory, or industry self- regulatory, bodies in their main place of business; (iv) represents that the Registrant possesses any necessary authorizations, charters, licenses and/or other related credentials for participation in the sector associated with the TLD; and (v) agrees to report any material changes to the validity of the Registrant’s authorizations, charters, licenses and/or other related credentials for participation in the sector associated with the TLD in order to ensure the Registrant continues to conform to appropriate regulations and licensing requirements and generally conduct activities in the interests of the consumers served.
2-Character Domains Corresponding to Country Codes. If Registrant is registering a letter/letter two-character ASCII label domain name, Registrant will take all steps necessary to ensure against misrepresenting or falsely implying that Registrant or Registrant’s business is affiliated with a government or country-code (ccTLD) manager if such affiliation, sponsorship and/or endorsement does not exist. The Registry reserves the right to cancel the registration, at its sole discretion, if:
a. Registrant fails to take such necessary steps; or
b. subject to applicable law or based on the applicable governmental agency report to the Registry regarding conduct that the Registry has determined causes confusion with the corresponding country code regarding the use of the letter/letter two-character ASCII domain.
8. Domain Name Deletion And Renewal Policy
Domain names are registered for fixed periods that are subject to renewal. We will send several email communications to customers and/or the agents acting on their behalf to alert them that their domain name registration services will expire on a certain date. If a Customer does not renew the domain name registration by the expiration date, the domain name registration is subject to deletion at any time after that. Domains that are set up with automatic renewals will renew automatically 14 days prior to the expiration date provided that payment information is saved the associated Registrar account. Registrar provides a grace period that extends 45 days past the expiration date, to allow for the renewal of domain name registration services. During this period a Customer can renew a domain name registration; however, a grace period is not guaranteed and can change or be eliminated at any time without notice. Consequently, every Customer who desires to renew his or her domain name registration services should do so in advance prior to the expiration date to avoid any unintended domain name deletion.
If an expired domain name registration is not renewed during any grace period provided by Registrar, the domain name registration will be deleted. Registry Operators may provide Registrars with the ability to 'restore' a deleted domain name registration for a Customer. Such a Redemption Grace Period (RGP) is not guaranteed and customers should renew their domain name registration services in advance of the domain name registration expiration date(s) to avoid deletion of domain name registration services. Currently, the Registry Operators provide an RGP for 45 days from the date of deletion. When we provide a redemption service to a Customer, an additional fee of is charged to restore and renew a domain name registration during the RGP. If the domain name registration is not redeemed by the expiration of the RGP, it is then placed on 'Pending Delete' status for five additional days, after which time it is deleted, and the domain name character string is once again available for registration.
Below is the general lifecycle for TLDs, gTLDs, and New gTLDs. Please note that while all domains will follow this general lifecycle, the lengths of time associated with each phase below reflects those of .law and .abogado domains, and may not be applicable for all TLDs.
In the event that a domain name registration is the subject of a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (uDRP) proceeding and expires or is deleted during the course of the dispute, the party that filed the uDRP proceeding has the option to renew or restore the domain name registration under the same commercial terms as the original Customer. If the case ultimately is terminated or the arbitrator finds against the filing party, the name will be scheduled for deletion. For more information about the Uniformed Domain name Dispute Resolution policy, please visit:
http://www.icann.org/en/help/dndr/udrp
In the event that a domain name registration is the subject of a Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS) proceeding and expires or is deleted during the course of the dispute, the party that filed the URS proceeding has the option to renew or restore the domain name registration under the same commercial terms as the original Customer. If the case ultimately is terminated or the arbitrator finds against the filing party, the name will be scheduled for deletion. For more information about the Uniform Rapid Suspension process, please visit:
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/urs
9. WHOIS Accuracy Program Specification
As an ICANN accredited Registrar, we are required to comply with the WHOIS Accuracy Program Specification requirements as outlined in the 2013 ICANN's RAA (RAA).
For any TLD, gTLD or New gTLD domain name that is registered after January 1 2014, or for any existing TLD, gTLD or New gTLD that is transferred to us after January 1 2014, or for any existing TLD, gTLD or New gTLD that is modified after January 1 2014 or for any other reason requiring additional verification, we may require you to take additional steps to verify your contact details through the process of acknowledgement.
We may send such verification requests by email or by Short Message Service ("SMS") or through an automated telephone verification process.
It is your responsibility to complete the verification process within 15 days of us providing you with such a verification request. Failing to participate in this verification process may result in us suspending the use or your domain name, or policy deleting your domain name in accordance with ICANN's published policies.
10. Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
Unlike the traditional TLD and gTLD domain names, the New gTLDs are subject to further dispute resolution mechanisms which may include:
(i) the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP) or
(ii) the Registration Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) adopted by ICANN or
(iii) Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system adopted by ICANN
Both Registrar and the Registry Operator will comply with these following dispute resolution mechanisms which may be revised from time.
Additionally, both Registrar and the Registry Operator also agree to implement and adhere to any remedies ICANN imposes (which may include any reasonable remedy resulting from determination by any PDDRP or RRDRP panel) and to be bound by any such determination; and the Uniform Rapid Suspension system ("URS") adopted by ICANN, including the implementation of determinations issued by URS examiners.
You further agree to indemnify, release, and hold harmless, both Registrar, the Registry Operator, ICANN, for any actions taken by us or the registry operator following a decision for any such dispute resolution procedures or providers.
11. Miscellaneous
Registrar acknowledges that it does not enjoy access to Registry systems that is in any way superior to that of any other accredited Registrar.
10.1 Export Restrictions You represent and warrant that you directly or indirectly are: A) not in or from any country that is subject to comprehensive U.S., EU and or UK export or sanctions restrictions (currently including, but not limited to, Iran, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea), nor are you intending to offer the services to any national of any such country present within or who intends to transmit or sell domains to such country unless specifically licensed for such export; (B) not using the services in the design, development or production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons or in the financing of terrorism; nor (C) are you listed as or are owned or controlled by a sanctioned person or entity or prohibited party on any list published by the U.S. government, including the list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) published by the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), or a person or entity on a sanctioned or restricted parties list published by an applicable jurisdiction.
12. Survival
The indemnification obligations under this section shall survive any termination or expiration of this Agreement. Neither Party shall be liable to the other for damages of any sort resulting solely from terminating this agreement in accordance with its terms, but each party shall be liable for any damage arising from any breach by it of this agreement.
13. Severability
In the event that any individual clauses or points in this agreement are not enforceable, the remainder of clauses or points in this agreement shall remain enforceable.
If there are any discrepancies/inconsistencies between the translated version and the English version of this agreement, the English version shall prevail.