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Version 1.1 from March 25, 2016 |
Policy for reviewing complaints of rightsholders against hosting users for any breaches of exclusive intellectual property rights and/or rights to any means of individualization equated to such intellectual property
Contents:
1. Definitions
2. General Provisions
3. Complaint Submission Procedure
4. Complaint Review Procedure
5. Limitation of RU-CENTER's Liability
6. Abuse of Complaint Procedure
RU-CENTER is Joint Stock Company "Regional Network Information Center" (JSC RU-CENTER).
Website Owner is a person or entity that is the customer or registrant of hosting services provided by RU-CENTER.
Website is a set of software/hardware, information, and materials stored by the Website Owner using RU-CENTER's resources and available to Internet users.
Hosting Service is a service that enables the use of RU-CENTER's resources as the Website Owner's virtual web server and virtual mail server that ensure that the Website is available to Internet users.
IP means any intellectual property and/or any means of individualization equated to such intellectual property that are exclusively owned by the Rightsholder.
Rightsholder is a person or entity that owns exclusive rights to the IP and submits a complaint to RU-CENTER against Website Owners for any illegal use of the IP.
Applicant means the Rightsholder or any person authorized by the Rightsholder to communicate with RU-CENTER regarding any matters related to the breach of exclusive rights to the IP.
This Policy for reviewing complaints of rightsholders against hosting users for any breaches of exclusive intellectual property rights and/or rights to any means of individualization equated to such intellectual property ("Policy") is RU-CENTER's official document governing RU-CENTER's actions regarding resolution of disputes related to any information and materials published by the Website Owner, and rights and obligations of RU-CENTER, Website Owners, and Rightsholders in such dispute resolution.
3. Complaint Submission Procedure
Should the Rightsholder discover any illegal use of the IP by Website Owners, the Rightsholder shall be entitled to submit a complaint about such illegal use of its IP to RU-CENTER's email address abuse@nic.ru.
The complaint about the illegal use of the IP shall be made in the Russian language or accompanied by a translation into the Russian language, and shall contain the following information:
3.1. Identification information of the Applicant that allows to contact the Applicant if necessary, including by email:
a) for an individual: full name, ID details (number, issuing authority, issue date), and contact information (phone number and email address);
b) for a legal entity: official name, address, and contact information (email address, phone number and/or fax number).
3.2. Information about the Website (with URL addresses of all Website's pages containing the IP without the Rightsholder's consent or other legal grounds) and the specific object, material, or information ("Disputed Object") published on the Website without the Rightsholder's consent or any other legal basis;
3.3. Reference to the Rightsholder's rights to the Disputed Object published on the Website without the Rightsholder's consent or any other legal basis.
3.4. A list of the Rightsholder's requirements to RU-CENTER regarding the performance of any actions or their omittance for the purpose of taking all necessary and reasonable steps to cease the infringement of the Rightsholder's intellectual property rights.
Copies of documents confirming the Rightsholder's exclusive rights to the IP shall be attached to the complaint. If the Applicant is the Rightsholder's representative, copies of the documents confirming the Applicant's authorization to represent the Rightsholder's interests shall be attached to the complaint.
When considering complaints, RU-CENTER considers only documents and/or explanations compiled in the official language of the Russian Federation (the Russian language) or accompanied by a translation in the Russian language.
By submitting a complaint, the Rightsholder agrees that its personal data will be processed by RU-CENTER and RU-CENTER-authorized third parties in order to review the complaint.
Should RU-CENTER have any doubts regarding the authenticity and validity of the complaint, RU-CENTER shall be entitled to require the Applicant to submit a hard copy of the complaint.
4.1. Within 5 (five) business days, RU-CENTER shall review the complaint received from the Rightsholder for its completeness, and
4.1.1. in case of sufficiency of information and documents provided by the Rightsholder, RU-CENTER shall forward the Rightsholder's complaint and any materials attached to it to the Website Owner's email address listed in the Service Agreement or the registrant's form (hereinafter, "contact email address");
4.1.2. in case of insufficiency of information and documents provided by the Rightsholder, RU-CENTER shall request additional information and documents from the Rightsholder, and the Rightsholder shall provide them within 5 (five) business days after RU-CENTER sends the request to the Rightsholder's email address.
If the Rightsholder fails to provide additional information and/or documents requested by RU-CENTER under Clause 4.1.2. hereof within a five-day period, the Rightsholder's complaint shall be deemed revoked by the Rightsholder. In this case, the Rightsholder shall still be entitled to submit to RU-CENTER a new complaint about a breach of exclusive rights to the IP.
4.2. Unless another deadline is specified in RU-CENTER's notice, the Website Owner, within 5 (five) business days after the receipt of the Rightsholder's complaint, shall:
4.2.1. remove any materials containing the Rightsholder's IP and notify RU-CENTER by sending a letter to RU-CENTER's email address abuse@nic.ru with proof of rectifying the breach of the exclusive rights to Rightsholder's IP: screenshots or links to the Website pages;
or
4.2.2. send to RU-CENTER's email address abuse@nic.ru a substantiated refusal to remove such materials along with information/documents confirming the validity of the use of the Disputed Object.
4.3. If the Website Owner fails to notify RU-CENTER of the removal of materials containing the IP or to send a substantiated refusal to remove such materials within the timeframe stipulated in Clause 4.2 hereof, RU-CENTER shall decide upon whether to suspend the Website, in whole or in part, and notify the Website Owner using its contact email addresses.
4.4. Within 5 (five) business days after the receipt of the Website Owner's response, RU-CENTER shall notify the Rightsholder via email address specified in the Rightsholder's complaint about the outcome of the complaint review:
4.4.1. deletion of materials containing the Rightsholder's IP by the Website Owner;
4.4.2. the Website Owner's refusal to delete the materials, in which case the Website Owner's substantiated refusal and any documents confirming the legitimacy of using the Disputed Object will be sent to the Rightsholder;
4.4.3. suspension, in whole or in part, of access to the Website containing any materials with the Rightsholder's IP.
4.5. The timeframes stipulated in this section may be extended for an additional period of up to 5 (five) business days at RU-CENTER's discretion, subject to a notice sent to email addresses of the Rightsholder and the Website owner's, if the additional information, documents and/or clarification are required from the Rightsholder or the Website's owner.
5. Limitation of RU-CENTER's Liability
5.1. When providing web hosting services, RU-CENTER shall provide only the technical means for publishing and disseminating information and materials, and shall not moderate or monitor materials published by the Website Owners. In case of any disputes between the Website Owner and the Rightsholder regarding the validity of publishing the IP, RU-CENTER shall not assess the validity of publishing the IP and shall not suspend the Website containing any information with the IP; however, the Website Owner and/or the Rightsholder shall be entitled to file a lawsuit in order to resolve the dispute between them.
5.2. The Rightsholder shall be held liable for any false information provided in its complaint and shall indemnify RU-CENTER against any losses (including any costs of complaint processing, restriction of access to the Website, and legal fees) resulting from any claims and lawsuits by the Website Owner listed in the complaint, or any third parties in relation to RU-CENTER's suspension of access to the Website, in whole or in part.
6. Abuse of Complaint Procedure
6.1. The Applicant shall not abuse the procedure set forth by this Policy.
RU-CENTER shall recognize the following actions of Applicants as abuse:
- repeated submission of complaints that formally comply with this Policy but contain false information;
- falsification of documents (including electronic documents) and information;
- submission of complaints in breach of Clause 3 hereof;
- multiple (3 or more) submissions of complaints on the same grounds and with the same list of the Disputable Objects and URL addresses of the Website's pages;
- use of automated mailing services and/or bots for contacting and/or communicating with RU-CENTER.
6.2. Should the Applicant's actions be considered an improper use of the procedure in accordance with Clause 6.1. hereof, RU-CENTER may reject the Applicant's complaint and send a notice thereof to the email address specified by the Applicant in accordance with Clause 3.1. hereof.