Copyright and Trademark Policies

At Namecheap, we believe that the customer comes first. As a result, we have developed policies over the years which ensure that we respond responsibly to copyright and trademark complaints made to us regarding domains and hosted content, and that we do so in a manner that respects our customer. As such, our policies include notifying the customer of a complaint and forwarding the details of the complaint.

NOTICE: When utilizing our copyright and trademark complaint procedures, you acknowledge and agree to the sharing of Your complaint with the relevant customer. You further attest that you are authorized to provide to Namecheap all personal information contained therein and that such authorization includes Namecheap’s processing of said personal information. Processing shall include retention and disclosure as is useful or needed to otherwise address such complaint as determined by Namecheap in its sole discretion.

Copyright Complaints

Copyright claims are covered by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), whereby a copyright holder may issue a formal complaint known as a DMCA Takedown Notice. If you believe that you have a valid copyright claim related to a Namecheap customer, you may submit a DMCA Takedown Notice in accordance with this policy by sending an email to dmca@namecheap.com.

DMCA Takedown Notice. If we receive a DMCA notice from a copyright holder regarding hosted content, we will follow the requirements set in place by the DMCA. We will:

1. Make sure the notice is DMCA-compliant. At a minimum, it must include:

1. Specification of Copyrighted Content. Identification of the work which is claimed to be copyrighted and infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by the notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
2. Location of Infringing Material. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing, or to be the subject of infringing activity, and that is to be removed, or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Namecheap to locate the material. This must include the specific URLs for each infringing instance.
3. Contact Information for Complaining Party. Information reasonably sufficient to permit Namecheap to contact the complaining party, such as name, address, and telephone number, as well as facsimile number and email, if available, at which the complaining party may be contacted.
4. Good Faith Statement. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
5. Statement Under Perjury. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly being infringed.
6. Signature. A physical or electronic signature of the complaining party or its agent.

2. Forward that notice to our customer, and make it clear how to proceed.

3. If the DMCA notice relates to content hosted on our servers, we will temporarily remove, or disable access to, the disputed content.

4. Give our customer the opportunity to counter-notice the DMCA notice. If our customer has counter-noticed a DMCA notice in reference to specific works in circumstances that do not amount to a repeat infringement, we will restore any disputed works promptly upon counter-notice as described below.

You should be aware that if Namecheap acts only as the domain registrar, and does not provide hosting services in respect of the disputed content, we do not have the technical ability to take action in response to a DMCA notice. You will need to contact the hosting provider

Further, Namecheap will determine in its sole and absolute discretion what constitutes repeat infringement.

DMCA Counter-Notice Procedure. If we receive a proper DMCA Takedown Notice from a copyright holder, we will email a copy of the notice to our customer to provide them with the opportunity to submit a DMCA Counter-Notice. We will advise our customer of the following:

1. If Namecheap provides hosting services in respect of the disputed content, we have removed or disabled access to that material due to notice of an alleged copyright infringement.
2. If our customer believes that the identification of infringing content is in error, Namecheap suggests contacting the reporting copyright owner to resolve the matter. If the reporting copyright owner agrees there is a mistake, they should email Namecheap at dmca@namecheap.com. The content the subject of the DMCA notice may then be reinstated.
3. If it is not possible to come to an agreement with the reporting copyright owner, the customer may submit a DMCA Counter-Notice to Namecheap within ten (10) business days of the date of our notice. The Counter-Notice is a legal document and must comply with the requirements of the DMCA. It must include the following:

1. Contact Information. Contact information, including name, address, and telephone number, as well as facsimile number and email, if available.
2. Statement under Perjury. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the party providing the Counter-Notice has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake, or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
3. Previous Location of Alleged Infringing Material. Identification of the material that has been removed, or to which access has been disabled, and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access was disabled.
4. Consent to Jurisdiction. A statement that the party providing the Counter-Notice consents to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court in which the address provided is located or, if that address is outside the United States, for the judicial district of Arizona, and that it will accept service of process from the complaining party or its agent.
5. Signature. A physical or electronic signature of the party providing the Counter-Notice or its agent.

4. By submitting a Counter-Notice to Namecheap, our customer waives any legal or equitable rights or remedies he or she has, or may have, against Namecheap with respect to the Counter-Notice, any claims regarding any aspect of the disputed content and its publication and/or Namecheap's action in implementing a takedown or re-establishing the content, and agrees to indemnify and hold Namecheap, and its owners/operators and/or affiliates, harmless to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters relating to the sending of a Counter-Notice.

If our customer responds with a proper Counter-Notice, we will:

1. Provide a copy of that Counter-Notice to the complaining party.

2. Advise the complaining party that the disputed content will be reinstated in ten (10) business days unless Namecheap receives notice from the reporting copyright owner that he or she has filed an action against our customer under the DMCA in a court of competent jurisdiction for copyright infringement and is seeking a court order to restrain our customer from publishing the disputed content.

3. If Namecheap does not receive such notification from the complaining party, we will replace the removed material, or cease disabling access to it, in not less than ten (10) business days and not more than fourteen (14) business days from receipt of our customer’s Counter-Notice.

Trademark Complaints

Trademark complaints are outside the scope of a DMCA Takedown Notice. However, if you believe your trademark complaint may also constitute a copyright infringement, and it is published on a website using Namecheap’s hosting services, you may choose to submit your complaint according to the DMCA Takedown Notice procedure outline above.

Below is Namecheap’s procedure for processing trademark complaints in various scenarios.

Domain Names. If you believe that a domain name and its use violates your trademark, you may either pursue the matter in a U.S. court of law or have the matter adjudicated under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP”) or, where available, the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (“URS”). These are the two forums for adjudicating such issues.

The UDRP is a mandatory administrative proceeding adopted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) to resolve disputes regarding the registration of domain names. All ICANN accredited registrars are required to follow the UDRP. As an ICANN accredited registrar, Namecheap and its customers are bound by the UDRP. Nothing in this policy should be construed to modify or supersede the UDRP. More information regarding the UDRP is available here or here. Information about the URS is available here.

Trademark Owners. If you believe that you have a trademark complaint that is not related to a domain name, and that does not fall under a copyright claim, you may submit a valid and formal notice of a trademark complaint as outlined below by sending an email to abuse@namecheap.com. When you submit a trademark complaint, you acknowledge and agree that we may forward your complaint to our customer. You further attest that you have authorization to share and instruct Namecheap to disclose any personal information contained therein and agree to hold Namecheap harmless for the processing of this personal information. It should include:

1. Details of the trademark or servicemark (“mark”) that is claimed to be infringed, including the registration number and jurisdiction or geographical area to which it applies.
2. The name, address and telephone number of the owner of the mark.
3. The goods and/or services covered by or offered under the mark.
4. A description of how you believe the mark is being infringed, including the precise location of the infringing mark.
5. Sufficient evidence that the owner of the website that is claimed to be infringing the mark is a Namecheap customer.

You should be aware that, we cannot take any further action without a U.S. court order or a UDRP, or URS, ruling. However, you are welcome to address your notice to the domain owner directly. Their contact details can be found by using the Namecheap WHOIS tool: https://www.namecheap.com/domains/whois/

Note that the contact details of the domain owner may be hidden due to GDPR. In this case, you are welcome to click on the 'Contact domain holder' button and submit the corresponding form. For more information, visit the gdpr-info.eu website.

If the contact details are hidden by the WHOIS privacy protection service, feel free to send your email to the protected email address (like ****.protect@withheldforprivacy.com). It will be forwarded to the real email address of the domain holder. Please note that we do not guarantee that you will receive a response from our clients, as we cannot force them to enter into an email correspondence.

Please be informed that per our policy, WHOIS contact information protected by WithHeldForPrivacy protection service can be revealed only based on an official request from a court (refer to https://www.namecheap.com/legal/general/court-order-and-subpoena-policy/).

Repeat Infringement

We will do everything in our power to fairly protect your right to freely use the Internet. However, repeated violation of this policy, or repeated infringement of copyrighted works, trademarks or other intellectual property, will lead to termination in appropriate circumstances. Namecheap will, in its sole and absolute discretion, determine what constitutes repeat infringement.

Further Questions & Contact Information

If you have any questions about how Namecheap deals with trademark and copyright complaints, please contact us by email or regular mail at the following address:

Namecheap Legal Department
4600 East Washington Street
Suite 300
Phoenix, AZ 85034
dmca@namecheap.com

Last revised: April 07, 2017