CertPing domain name registration agreement

1.1 This agreement applies to every domain name for which CertPing is the registrar of record: today, names ending in .com and .net. The registration data of a domain name (RDAP) names its registrar of record.

1.2 CertPing also sells domain names as a reseller of other ICANN-accredited registrars. For those names, that registrar's registration agreement applies instead of this one, as our Terms and Conditions explain.

1.3 "You" means the registered name holder: the person or organization named as the registrant of the domain name. If you accept this agreement on behalf of someone else, such as your employer or a client, you confirm that you are authorized to bind them, and they are the registrant bound by it.

1.4 This agreement includes, by reference:

• the domain name parts of our Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy;
• ICANN's consensus policies that apply to registrants, including the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the Transfer Policy, the Expired Registration Recovery Policy and the Registration Data Policy, each as amended from time to time; and
• the policies of the registry operator for the domain name's ending (section 11).

1.5 If this agreement and our Terms and Conditions conflict for a domain name CertPing sponsors, this agreement governs. If either conflicts with an ICANN consensus policy, the policy governs.

1.6 You can read this agreement and download a copy at any time at https://www.certping.com/legal/registration-agreement/.

• Registry operator: the organization that runs the registry for a domain name ending. For .com and .net it is VeriSign, Inc. ("Verisign").
• ICANN: the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
• Consensus policy: a policy ICANN adopts that binds accredited registrars and, through their registration agreements, registrants.
• Account: your CertPing account, through which the domain name is ordered and managed. The account's administrators may be people other than the registrant.
• Registration data: the contact and technical data held for a domain name, described in section 4.

3.1 A domain name is registered for you only when the registry operator confirms it. We do not guarantee that a name is available, or that it is registered, until then. If we cannot register a name you have paid for, we refund what you paid for it.

3.2 We activate a registration only after we have received payment, or reasonable assurance of payment. Your obligation to pay becomes final and cannot be revoked once the registration is activated.

3.3 You register a domain name for the term you choose at checkout, within the limits the registry operator sets. Prices are shown at checkout before you pay. Our renewal, post-expiration renewal and restore fees are published at [[TO CONFIRM: URL of CertPing's published fee page for .com and .net]], and section 14 describes when each applies.

3.4 Fees you have paid are not refundable, except as this agreement or our Terms and Conditions state, or as the law requires.

3.5 CertPing does not offer a privacy or proxy registration service for the domain names this agreement covers, and sells them through no reseller.

4.1 You must give us accurate and reliable contact details, and correct and update them within seven (7) days of any change during the registration. These are: your full name; your postal address; your email address; your telephone number; your fax number, if you have one and give it to us; if you are an organization, association or corporation, the name of a person authorized to act for it; the domain name's nameservers; and the details of any technical contact you name.

4.2 Required and optional data. Your name, street address, city, country, telephone number and email address are required, as are your state or province and postal code where your country uses them. Your organization and a technical contact are optional.

4.3 Organization. If you enter an organization, that organization, not you personally, is the registrant, and we publish its name in the domain name's registration data only if you agree to that at checkout or later.

4.4 Technical contact. If you name a technical contact, you may name yourself, or give contact details that are not a person's own, such as a shared role address, instead of another individual's personal details.

4.5 Verification. Within fifteen (15) days after you register a domain name, transfer it to us, change its registrant, or change your email address, we email you a link to confirm your email address. If you have not confirmed it within fifteen (15) days, we suspend the domain name (its DNS stops resolving) until you do. We also ask you to confirm again when we have reason to doubt your details, for example when our email to you bounces or someone reports your details as inaccurate.

4.6 Your wilful provision of inaccurate or unreliable information, your wilful failure to update your information within seven (7) days of a change, or your failure to respond for over fifteen (15) days to our inquiries about the accuracy of your contact details, is a material breach of this agreement and a basis for suspending or cancelling the registration. Until we have validated your details, we may suspend the domain name, or place it on hold and prevent its transfer.

4.7 Each year, before the anniversary of the registration, we email you the registration data we hold and ask you to correct anything that is out of date.

If you license the use of your domain name to a third party, you remain the registrant of record. You remain responsible for giving us your own full contact details, and accurate technical and administrative contact details adequate to resolve problems with the domain name quickly. You accept liability for harm caused by wrongful use of the domain name, unless, within seven (7) days of receiving reasonable evidence of actionable harm from a party, you disclose to that party the current contact details your licensee gave you and the licensee's identity.

This section is the notice ICANN requires us to give each new or renewing registrant. Our Privacy Policy says more about how we handle personal data.

6.1 Purposes. We use the registration data you give us to register and manage your domain name; to contact you about it, including renewal and expiry notices; to verify your contact details; to publish the domain name's registration data as section 6.4 describes; to handle disputes, transfers, and reports of abuse or inaccurate data; to deposit it with an escrow agent (section 15); to keep the records ICANN requires; and to comply with the law.

6.2 Recipients. We give registration data only to:

• Verisign, the registry operator, which receives the domain name, its nameservers, DNSSEC data and statuses, and our details as its registrar. For .com and .net we do not currently send Verisign your contact details. If a registry policy comes to require them, we will send them only where an appropriate legal basis exists and a data processing agreement is in place, and we will tell you before we do;
• DENIC Services GmbH & Co. KG in Germany, the ICANN-approved escrow agent that holds the copy described in section 15, and ICANN if that copy is released;
• ICANN, when it asks for records about specific registrations to check our compliance;
• a dispute resolution provider handling a proceeding about the domain name, such as a UDRP provider;
• a person or authority who makes a lawful request for disclosure of non-public data, where we decide, after review, that the request should be granted, or where the law requires it;
• anyone who looks up the domain name, for the data we publish (section 6.4); and
• our service providers, such as hosting, payment processing and email delivery, who process it for us under contract.

6.3 Section 4.2 says which data are required and which are optional.

6.4 Publication. We publish the domain name's registration data through our RDAP service at https://rdap.certping.com/. We publish your state or province and country. We withhold your name, street address, city, postal code, telephone and fax numbers, and in place of your email address we publish a link to a form that relays messages to you without revealing your address. We publish your organization, and any withheld element, only if you agree to its publication; you can withdraw that agreement at any time.

6.5 Access and correction. You can see and correct your registration data in your account at any time, or ask us at support@certping.com.

6.6 Your consent. You consent to our processing of your registration data as this section describes.

6.7 Other people's data. If you give us personal data about anyone else, such as a technical contact, you confirm that you have given them a notice equivalent to this section, and obtained their consent equivalent to section 6.6.

6.8 Our commitments. We will not process the personal data we collect from you in a way incompatible with the purposes and other limits this section describes. We will take reasonable precautions to protect it from loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

6.9 Retention. We keep registration data, and our records of your account and of our correspondence with you about the registration, for as long as we sponsor the domain name and for two years after. We keep payment records and logs of your sessions and communications with us, such as IP addresses, for at least 180 days. We keep the data needed to resolve a transfer dispute for at least fifteen (15) months after we stop sponsoring the domain name or its registrant changes.

By registering a domain name, or by asking us to keep or renew a registration, you represent and warrant that:

• the statements you made in registering it are complete and accurate;
• to the best of your knowledge and belief, neither the registration of the domain name nor the way it is used, directly or indirectly, infringes the legal rights of any third party;
• you are not registering it for an unlawful purpose; and
• you will not knowingly use it in violation of any applicable law or regulation.

It is your responsibility to determine whether your domain name registration infringes or violates someone else's rights.

8.1 You must not use the domain name, or let it be used, for distributing malware, abusively operating botnets, phishing, pharming, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement, fraudulent or deceptive practices, counterfeiting, or any other activity contrary to applicable law. Our Terms and Conditions list further uses we do not allow.

8.2 If you do, we may suspend or cancel the registration, consistent with applicable law, as section 9 describes. When we have actionable evidence that the domain name is being used for phishing, malware, botnets, pharming, or spam that delivers them, we take the action reasonably necessary to stop or disrupt that use.

8.3 Anyone can report abuse of a domain name to us through our Report abuse page.

9.1 Your registration is subject to suspension, cancellation or transfer under any ICANN specification or policy, or any registrar or registry procedure not inconsistent with one, to correct mistakes by us or the registry operator in registering the domain name, or to resolve disputes about it.

9.2 You acknowledge and agree that Verisign reserves the right to deny, cancel, redirect or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain name on registry lock, hold or similar status, as it deems necessary, in its unlimited and sole discretion:

• to comply with specifications adopted by any industry group generally recognized as authoritative with respect to the Internet (for example, RFCs);
• to correct mistakes made by Verisign or any registrar in connection with a domain name registration;
• for the non-payment of fees to Verisign;
• to protect against imminent and substantial threats to the security and stability of the registry, its systems, Verisign's nameserver operations or the Internet;
• to ensure compliance with applicable law, government rules or regulations, or under any legal order or subpoena of any government, administrative or governmental authority, or court of competent jurisdiction; or
• to stop or prevent any violation of the terms of its agreement with us, its operational requirements, or its registry agreement with ICANN.

9.3 We may suspend the domain name's DNS, place it on hold, or cancel its registration, without refund, in the cases our Terms and Conditions list, in the cases sections 4.6 and 8 describe, or when the registry operator requires it.

9.4 We will cancel, transfer or otherwise change a registration when you or your authorized agent instruct us to (subject to section 12.4), when we receive an order requiring it from a court or arbitral tribunal of competent jurisdiction, or when we receive a decision of a UDRP administrative panel requiring it. We may also do so in accordance with this agreement or other legal requirements.

9.5 Where we can, we tell you what we did and why, unless the law or the request prevents it.

10.1 You will indemnify and hold harmless Verisign, as registry operator, and its directors, officers, employees and agents, from and against any and all claims, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees and expenses) arising out of or related to your domain name registration.

10.2 You will also indemnify, defend and hold harmless Verisign and its subcontractors, and its and their directors, officers, employees, agents and affiliates, from and against any and all claims, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses, including reasonable legal fees and expenses, arising out of or relating to, for any reason whatsoever, your domain name registration.

10.3 Your obligation to cover claims against CertPing is in our Terms and Conditions.

10.4 These obligations survive the end or expiry of this agreement.

You must comply with:

• the ICANN standards, policies, procedures and practices for which the registry operator has monitoring responsibility under its registry agreement with ICANN; and
• the operational standards, policies, procedures and practices the registry operator sets for the domain name's ending from time to time.

12.1 The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is part of this agreement. You must take part in a mandatory administrative proceeding under it if a third party complains about your domain name. We do not take part in disputes between you and anyone other than us.

12.2 The Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) does not apply to .com or .net under their current registry agreements. If it, or another dispute procedure a registry operator requires, comes to apply to your domain name, it applies to your registration.

12.3 While a UDRP proceeding, a court case or arbitration, or a transfer dispute about the domain name is pending, we lock it and do not delete, transfer or change it, except as the policy, the court or the tribunal directs.

12.4 You may not transfer the domain name to another holder during a pending UDRP proceeding or for fifteen (15) business days after it ends, or during a pending court proceeding or arbitration about it unless the new holder agrees in writing to be bound by the decision. You may not transfer it to another registrar during a pending UDRP proceeding or for fifteen (15) business days after it ends. We may cancel a transfer made in breach of this section.

12.5 For the adjudication of disputes concerning or arising from the use of the domain name, you submit, without prejudice to other potentially applicable jurisdictions, to the jurisdiction of the courts of your domicile and of the courts where CertPing is located: [[TO CONFIRM: the courts named for CertPing's location, for example the state and federal courts in Delaware]].

13.1 Transfers between registrars and changes of registrant follow ICANN's Transfer Policy, and transfer disputes between registrars its Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy.

13.2 Transfer lock. You consent to our placing the domain name in the "clientTransferProhibited" status (the transfer lock) when it is registered or transferred to us, so that it cannot be transferred to another registrar without your action. You can remove and restore the lock in your account at any time, and while you have not removed it, a request to transfer the domain name to another registrar fails. If you cannot remove it yourself, we remove it within five (5) calendar days of your request.

13.3 Transfer code. You can get the domain name's transfer (auth) code in your account at any time, and change it there. Each code is unique to the domain name. If you cannot get it yourself, we give it to you within five (5) calendar days of your request. We do not refuse to give you the code, or to remove the lock, because of a dispute with you over payment.

13.4 Transfers away. When another registrar asks to take the domain name, we tell you, and the transfer completes after five (5) days unless it is cancelled. You can cancel the request, or approve it sooner, in your account. We refuse a transfer only for a reason the Transfer Policy allows, such as evidence of fraud, a pending dispute, or the restrictions in section 13.5. If we refuse it, we tell you and the other registrar why.

13.5 A domain name cannot be transferred to another registrar within sixty (60) days of its registration or of its previous transfer between registrars, or while it is in a dispute (section 12) or on hold.

13.6 Change of registrant. A change of the registrant's name, organization or email address, other than a correction of a typing mistake, is a change of registrant. We make it only after both the current and the new registrant confirm it, and we tell both when it is done. The new registrant must accept this agreement. After a change of registrant, the domain name cannot be transferred to another registrar for sixty (60) days. We do not offer an opt-out of this lock, so if you mean to move the domain name to another registrar, do that before you change its registrant.

13.7 Transfers in. When you transfer a domain name to us, you must give us its transfer code, and the transfer adds a year to its registration. This agreement applies to it from the moment the transfer completes.

14.1 Auto-renew. Auto-renew is on by default for a domain name you register and pay for by card, and off for a domain name you transfer to us. You can turn it on or off in your account at any time. With auto-renew on, we charge your saved payment method for one more year about fourteen (14) days before the expiration date, so you must keep your payment details current. We never charge more than the amount we last told you without a notice delivered to you ten (10) to thirty (30) days before the charge. If the new price is more than one and a half times, or more than US$20 above, the last renewal price, we charge nothing until you approve it. After a charge above the amount we last told you, you may ask for a refund within fourteen (14) days.

14.2 Renewal reminders. We email renewal reminders to the registrant's email address and to the administrators of the account that holds the domain name: about one month before the expiration date, about one week before it, and, if the domain name has not been renewed, again within five (5) days after it with instructions for renewing. All our notices are in English, the language of this agreement. To make sure you receive them, keep your email address current and add our sending address to your safe senders list.

14.3 After expiry. A domain name that expires is not deleted at once. Until we delete it you can renew it in your account at the post-expiration renewal fee. Twenty-seven (27) days after the expiration date we interrupt its DNS: if it uses CertPing's nameservers, a page there says the domain name has expired and how to renew it; if it uses other nameservers, we place it on hold so that it stops resolving. When you renew, we restore its DNS at once.

14.4 Deletion. If the domain name has not been renewed, we delete it thirty-five (35) days after its expiration date. We may keep it longer, or renew it, only in the extenuating circumstances ICANN allows: a UDRP action, a valid court order, a failure of our renewal process, the domain name's use by a nameserver that serves third parties, the registrant's bankruptcy, a payment or billing dispute, litigation about the domain name, or another circumstance ICANN approves.

14.5 Restore. For thirty (30) days after deletion, the domain name is in the registry's redemption grace period. It does not resolve and cannot be transferred, and only CertPing, as the registrar that deleted it, can restore it. You can restore it through your account during that time at the restore fee. After that period the registry releases the domain name and anyone can register it.

14.6 Fees. Renewal fee: the price shown in your account and in your renewal reminders. Post-expiration renewal fee: [[TO CONFIRM: the post-expiration renewal fee, for example "the same as the renewal fee"]]. Restore fee: [[TO CONFIRM: the restore fee for .com and .net]]. All three are published at [[TO CONFIRM: URL of CertPing's published fee page for .com and .net]].

14.7 If we materially change this deletion and renewal policy while your registration is in effect, we tell you as we tell you of other material changes to this agreement (section 18).

ICANN requires us to deposit a copy of the registration data of every domain name we sponsor with an ICANN-approved escrow agent. Ours is DENIC Services GmbH & Co. KG in Germany. The copy holds the domain name, its registrant contact details and its expiration date, and is kept encrypted. The agent releases it only to ICANN, so that, if CertPing could no longer act as your registrar, your domain name can move to another registrar.

16.1 For help with your domain name, email support@certping.com, use our contact form, or use the other channels on our Registrar information page.

16.2 For an emergency, such as the suspected hijacking of your domain name, contact [[TO CONFIRM: CertPing's 24/7 emergency contact for registrants, phone and email]].

16.3 To complain about our service, email support@certping.com with "Complaint" in the subject. We confirm receipt, investigate, and reply with what we found and what we will do. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to ICANN at https://www.icann.org/compliance/complaint.

16.4 Legal notices to CertPing go to legal@certping.com. We send notices to you by email to the registrant's email address and to your account's administrators.

17.1 This agreement lasts for as long as CertPing sponsors the domain name. It ends when the domain name is deleted, transfers to another registrar, or passes to a new registrant under a change of registrant, who then accepts this agreement.

17.2 You may end it by transferring the domain name to another registrar, by letting it expire, or by asking us to delete it.

17.3 We may end it for a material breach, including those in sections 4.6 and 8. When this agreement ends, other than by transfer, the domain name is deleted within forty-five (45) days unless one of the extenuating circumstances in section 14.4 applies.

17.4 If ICANN's accreditation of CertPing ends, or CertPing stops acting as a registrar, your domain name may be moved to another ICANN-accredited registrar under ICANN's procedures, and that registrar's terms will then apply.

18.1 We may change this agreement, for example when an ICANN policy or a registry operator's requirements change. You can always read the current version at the address in section 1.6.

18.2 We tell you of a material change by email at least thirty (30) days before it takes effect, unless an ICANN policy, a registry operator or the law requires a change sooner. We may ask you to accept the new version, for example when you next renew. If you do not agree to it, you may transfer the domain name to another registrar before the change takes effect.

The Limitation of Liability and "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" Disclaimer sections of our Terms and Conditions apply to the registration services under this agreement.

This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, excluding its conflict of laws rules, subject to section 12.5 and to any mandatory consumer protection law of the country where you live.

21.1 This agreement is written in English. If we provide a translation, the English text prevails.

21.2 If a court holds any part of this agreement unenforceable, the rest continues in force, and that part is applied as far as the law allows.

21.3 Our failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.

21.4 We may assign this agreement to another ICANN-accredited registrar that takes over the sponsorship of your domain name under ICANN's rules.

21.5 Sections 5, 7, 10, 12 and 19 to 21 survive the end of this agreement.

• ICANN's Registrants' Benefits and Responsibilities
• ICANN's Registrant Educational Information and its help for registrants
• Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
• Transfer Policy
• Expired Registration Recovery Policy
• Registration Data Policy
• Our fees: [[TO CONFIRM: URL of CertPing's published fee page for .com and .net]]
• Our Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, Registrar information, Registrant rights and education and Report abuse pages
• To report inaccurate registration data to ICANN: https://www.icann.org/compliance/complaint