Under the policy, most types of trademark based keyword disputes must be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration before Mallfinder Network or its affiliates will transfer the keywords. Disputes alleged to arise from abusive registrations of Shopper Keyword names (for example, cyber squatting) should also be addressed by court action or arbitration. To invoke the policy, a trademark owner should file a complaint to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English
courts against the Shopper Keyword name holder (or where appropriate an in-rem action concerning the Shopper Keyword name) or to the International Charter.
The policy is between the registrar (or other registration affiliates) and its customer (the Shopper Keyword holder or registrant). Thus, the policy uses "we" and "our" to refer to the registrar and it uses "you" and "your" to refer to the keyword holder.
1. Introduction
This policy sets forth the terms and conditions in relation with a contest between you and any party other than us (the registrar) over the registration and use of an Mallfinder Network name registered by you.
2. Your Commitments
By applying to register an Shopper Keyword, or by asking us to maintain or renew an Shopper Keyword name registration, you hereby represent and warrant to us that:
a) the statements that you made in your Registration Agreement are complete and accurate;
b) to your knowledge, the registration of the keyword name will not infringe upon or otherwise violate the rights of any third party;
c) you are not registering the Shopper Keyword name for an unlawful purpose; and
d) you will not knowingly use the Shopper Keyword name in violation of any applicable laws or regulations.
It is your responsibility to determine whether your Shopper Keyword name registration infringes or violates someone
else's rights.
3. Changes of Circumstance
We will cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes to Shopper Keyword name registrations under the following circumstances:
a) our receipt of written or appropriate electronic instructions from you or your authorized agent to take such action;
b) our receipt of an order from a court or arbitral tribunal, in each case of competent jurisdiction, requiring such action, for example the International Charter;
We may also cancel, transfer or otherwise make changes to an Shopper Keyword name registration in accordance with the terms of your Registration Agreement (TOS) or other legal requirements.
4. Our Involvement in
We do not, and will not, participate in the administration or conduct of any proceeding before a
5. Result of Proceedings
It is important to note that Shopper Keyword does not
a) Have the power to transfer an Shopper Keyword to a third party without the express consent of the registrant or an Order of the English Law Courts or a ruling by the International Charter.
b) Offer legal advice to those in dispute over Shopper Keyword registrations.
c) Make judgments as to whether the registration or use of an Shopper Keyword infringes the rights of third parties.
The English courts are the proper recourse for those involved in an Shopper Keyword dispute, and Shopper Keyword will comply with English Court Orders when a dispute is settled through the legal process. If a law court decides that your Shopper Keyword name registration should be canceled or transferred, we will wait twelve (12) business days after we are informed by the pursuant of the decision by the applicable law court before implementing that decision. We will then implement the decision unless we have received from you during that twelve (12) business day period official documentation (such as a court's decision, file-stamped by the clerk of the court) that the courts have ruled in your favor. If we receive such documentation within the twelve (12) business day period, we will not implement the original decision.
We will take no action if information provided to us is
a) Evidence satisfactory to us of a resolution between the parties; or
b) evidence satisfactory to us that the pursuant's lawsuit has been dismissed or withdrawn;
6. All Other Disputes
All other disputes between you and any party other than us regarding your Shopper Keyword name registration shall be resolved between you and such other party through any court, arbitration or other proceeding that may be available.
7. Our Involvement in Disputes
We will not take part in any way in any dispute between you and any party other than us regarding the registration and use of your Shopper Keyword name. You shall not name us as a party or otherwise include us in any such proceeding. In the event that we are named as a party in any such undertaking, we reserve the right to raise any and all defenses deemed suitable, and to take any other action essential to defend ourselves.
8. Transfers During a Dispute
i. Transfers of an Shopper Keyword Name to a New Holder.
You may not transfer your Shopper Keyword name registration to another holder
a) during a pending court proceeding brought by a pursuant or for a period of eighteen (18) business days after such proceeding is concluded; or
b) during a pending court proceeding or arbitration commenced regarding your Shopper Keyword name unless the party to whom the Shopper Keyword name registration is being transferred agrees, in writing, to be bound by the decision of the court or arbitrator.
We reserve the right to cancel any transfer of an Shopper Keyword name registration to another holder that is made in violation of this subparagraph.
ii. Changing Registrars.
You may not transfer your Shopper Keyword name registration to another registrar during a pending administrative proceeding brought by a pursuant or for a period of eighteen (18) business days after such proceeding is concluded. You may transfer administration of your Shopper Keyword name registration to another registrar during a pending court action or arbitration, provided that the Shopper Keyword name you have registered with us shall continue to be subject to the proceedings commenced against you in accordance with the terms of this Policy. In the event that you transfer an Shopper Keyword name registration to us during the pendency of a court action or arbitration, such dispute shall remain subject to the Shopper Keyword name dispute policy of the registrar from which the Shopper Keyword name registration was transferred.
9. Policy Modifications
We retain the right to modify this policy at anytime. We will post our revised Policy at our site at least thirty (30) business days before it becomes effective. Unless this policy has already been called upon by the submission of a protest to us or our affiliate registrars, in which event the version of the policy in effect at the time it was called upon will apply to you until the dispute is over.
For the most recent version of this policy visit http://www.retailhub.com/ShopperKeywords/dispute.html
Due Diligence Policy
The following policy is implemented by Mallfinder Network regarding registrations during the Restricted Registration period. It is implemented at the sole discretion of Mallfinder Network.
Name Property is defined as a word or phrase that may be held as a trademark, registered trademarked or given legal claim to belonging to a company or organization.
1. Mallfinder Network will attempt to flag any registrations that may infringe on a trademark or name property. This does not warranty any protection from these registrations.
2. Registrations that are flagged in the manner described in point (1) will be subject to the following:
a. The registering party will be contacted in order to assess validation
b. The company to which the registered term may belong as a trademark will be contacted in order to confirm the validity of the registration on their behalf.
c. The Intellectual Property or Trademark representatives of the company or organization to which the registered term may belong as a trademark will be contacted in order to assess validity of the registration.
3. Failure to complete or establish contact with the parties described in the subsections of point 2 will result in the registration being approved. Revocation of an approved and processed registration can only be undertaken in accordance with the Dispute Resolution Policy.
4. If it is discovered that the registration was completed by a person not acting on behalf of the company or organization holding a legal right to the trademark, the previous registration will be deleted and no refund granted.
5. Further to point 4, the legal holder of the right to the name property will be permitted to submit a registration request for that name property.
6. This policy is instigated by Mallfinder Network as a free service, it is not legally binding and may not be carried out in all circumstances. Mallfinder Network will not be held responsible for registrations that occur and infringe on a companies rights despite this policy.
Registration Stop Instruction
The Shopper Keyword Registry operates a Due Diligence Policy. This policy aims to prevent fraudulent registrations during the Restricted and Select Registration periods.
If a registration request is flagged during the process, the Registry will attempt to contact the Intellectual Property Officer of the company concerned and verify the authenticity of the registration.
The Due Diligence policy may hold a registration in a queue for a period of Sixty (60) Days, after which time the registration process must be resolved, either by approval or by accepting another registration request via the Stop Instruction, which is described below.
The Due Diligence Policy is available online at http://www.retailhub.com/legal/duediligence.html
In the event that a company believes that a registration has been conducted in bad faith, it may request that registration is terminated and the Company lodge it’s own, authenticated, registration.
This new registration request is part of the Stop Instruction process, which has three main aspects:
1. Issuing of a Stop Instruction to the Registry.
This indicates that the Company does not believe the registration request to be legitimate.
2. Reception of the Stop Instruction
Once the Registry has received the Stop Instruction the disputed registrations may be suspended indefinitely until the issue is resolved.
3. The Stop Instruction process can end in one of two ways, as shown below:
a. Counter Registration of the disputed term
The Company registers the disputed term using authenticated information, gaining legal ownership.
b. Withdrawal
The Company withdraws it opposition and the original registrant is granted ownership. The Registry may reject the Stop Instruction if it believes the original registration to be valid.