Domain Directors's Terms of Service

Introduction

These Terms of Service, together with the applicable country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) Policies constitutes the entire agreement between Domain Directors and domain name registrant (owner of the registration).

Prior to registration of a Domain Name or the transfer of any Domain Name to Domain Directors as the Registrar of record, Domain Directors requires you to have accepted these terms and the applicable ccTLD Policies.

Terminology

Following are definitions of terms used in these Terms of Service:

Approved Domain Directors Provider

An organisation which provides registration services to Registrants upon the terms of a Approved Domain Directors Provider contract with Domain Directors.

Domain Name

Any domain name registered through Domain Directors as the Registrar of record.

Domain Name Services

Any Domain Name registration, renewal and other services associated with a Domain Name

Email Address

An email address provided by Domain Directors in accordance with these Terms of Service.

Hosted Website

A Registrant’s website that is hosted by Domain Directors in accordance with these Terms of Service.

Registrant

An individual or organisation whose Domain Name is registered with Domain Directors. A Registrant is also referred to as the “Name Holder” of the Domain Name.

Register

The central listing of Domain Names managed and maintained by Registry.

Relevant Party

Includes each of the following parties:

1. Domain Directors, the Registry and any other entity with whom any of the preceding parties is in a business relationship;
2. every officer, employee, contractor, agent of any entity specified in paragraph
3. anyone else that Domain Directors may procure to perform any obligations or duties of Domain Directors under any agreement you have with Domain Directors.

Services

Domain Name Services and/or Web and Email Services.

SRS

Shared Registry System. The system used by the Registry to receive and action Domain Name registration applications and other requests.

Web and Email Services

Any web services or email services offered or provided by Domain Directors in addition to Domain Name Services.

You

The Registrant of the Domain Name.

2. Your obligations

You agree that:

1. You have read and understand these Terms of Service and the relevant ccTLD Policies, and agree to be bound by them.
2. You have and will satisfy yourself that the use (whether directly or indirectly) of the Domain Name will not infringe the legal rights (including, without limitation, the intellectual property rights) of any third party. You agree to protect each Relevant Party from any such claim.
3. You will make sure all information you give Domain Directors is accurate and complete, keep Domain Directors informed of changes to any information you give us, and that you have the authority to enter in to this agreement.
4. You will only use the Services for lawful purposes.
5. You will ensure that any Domain Name registered by you does not interfere with other users of the Internet.
6. You will comply with any orders of any authority having jurisdiction in relation to the Services.
7. All registered Domain Names must be hosted on two pre-configured domain name servers and you are responsible for at all times meeting this obligation.
8. You will keep the Registrant ID, and any passwords associated with the Domain Name, together with any other security provided to you in connection with the Domain Name (“Password Information”), confidential, safe and secure. Domain Directors is not responsible for the misuse of any Password Information whether by yourself, or, by any other person (including, without limitation, any employee or contractor of Domain Directors).

You warrant that:

1. You are an identifiable individual over the age of 18 years of age, or, a legally constituted organisation.
2. Any person or legal entity which uses the Domain Name complies with the obligations set out in clause above.
3. In respect of a Restricted Domain Name, you meet and will continue to meet for the period of the Restricted Domain Name registration the eligibility criteria contained in the Restriction Policies.

You acknowledge that:

1. Domain Directors must adhere to the relevant registry Policies and any instructions received from time to time from the DNC and InternetNZ. Accordingly, you agree that Domain Directors is entitled to take all actions that may be reasonably necessary or prudent to comply with the relevant ccTLD Policies or any such instructions received from time to time from the registries without incurring any liability to you or any person for whom you are responsible.

3. Registration of a Domain Name

You agree that:

1. Registration of a Domain Name by Domain Directors is carried out on a "first come, first served" basis.
2. Registration of a Domain Name confers no property or ownership rights to that Domain Name.
3. Upon the registration of a Domain Name by you, your contact details, the Domain Name, its commencement and expiry date, the address and details of the nameservers for the Domain Name and Domain Directors’s name becomes publicly available to any member of the public.
4. The Domain Name is registered in your name only because no other person has it according to the records of the Register.
5. The entry of a domain name in the “whois” database will not be taken as evidence of anything other than the registration of the Domain Name.
6. Domain Directors will not become involved (whether directly or indirectly) in any dispute pertaining to the Domain Name and where a conflict arises between Name Holders or prospective Registrants about the Domain Name registration, those parties must resolve the issue independently of Domain Directors.
7. The details held in the Register shall be treated as correct and as the authoritative record.
8. Domain Directors does not accept any responsibility for the content of a Name Holder’s website and Domain Directors shall not be obliged to enforce the removal of content from a website unless it has been instructed by a Court Order to do so.

4. Domain Directors Obligations

When providing any Domain Name Services, Domain Directors will:

1. Comply with all relevant ccTLD Policies and accurately represent these Policies to you.
2. Disclose accurately and completely all the terms and conditions (including price and billing information) associated with the provision of the registration of a Domain Name to you, and the maintenance of the Domain Name sought to be used by you.
3. Comply with your lawful directions in a diligent and timely manner regarding the Domain Name (including, without limitation, relating to registration, cancellation, amendment, deletion and associated technical support and billing).
4. Process any Domain Name registrations with the Register within 72 hours from the time that Domain Directors receives all the information required to complete the registration.
5. Notify you of the registration of the Domain Name including the details of the Domain Name, your contact details, Domain Directors’s contact details, the registration period and the passwords for the Domain Name.
6. Arrange for correction of any error in the information in the register about the registered Domain Name when requested by you.
7. Provide the password for the Domain Name to you, or to someone that Domain Directors reasonably believes is acting on your behalf, when requested and at no charge. We agree to take reasonable care to satisfy ourselves that you have permitted that person to act on behalf of you.
8. Use your personal information only as authorised by you and otherwise, in accordance with these Terms of Service.
9. Take all reasonable commercial steps to safeguard and protect all information about you stored in Domain Directors’s databases and systems.
10. Comply with any order or authority having jurisdiction regarding the Domain Name registered to you.
11. Use best endeavours to deal with any complaints you may have about the Domain Name Services.

5. Domain Directors Web and Email Services

1. If Domain Directors provides you with Hosting services, you may obtain any Web and Email Service from Domain Directors in connection with the Domain Name. You agree on your own behalf, and on behalf of the Registrant if you are acting as the agent of the Registrant that the Web and Email Services are not available for Name Holders of Moderated Domain Names.
2. Domain Directors will endeavour to provide the Web and Email Services with due care and skill, however, Domain Directors does not guarantee the availability of the Web and Email Services. Domain Directors will remedy any unavailability of the Web and Email Services as soon as it is able but does not guarantee that any unavailability will be resolved outside Domain Directors’s trading hours. In addition, Domain Directors does not guarantee that any Web and Email Service will be:
   1. interruption or fault free or that any faults or errors will be corrected;
   2. available at any particular time or location; available, or available without change, for any minimum period of time;
   3. secure or private; or
   4. free of viruses or other harmful features.

6. Your Obligations Regarding Web and Email Services

You agree that:

1. You will perform all tasks and responsibilities requested of you by Domain Directors in respect of the Web and Email Services.
2. You will ensure that any Hosted Website and any email sent or received from or by an Email Address:
   1. does not infringe any intellectual property rights of any person;
   2. does not contain any material which is obscene, offensive, upsetting, defamatory, insulting, abusive or in any way unsuitable for persons under the age of 18 years;
   3. is not comprised or is not used for any unlawful purpose or activity.
3. You will comply with the requirements of any restriction or exclusion relating to any Web and Email Service notified to you by Domain Directors from time to time.
4. Domain Directors may modify, enhance or withdraw any Web and Email Service by posting notice on the Domain Directors Website 30 days before the change is to take effect.
5. Domain Directors does not provide website maintenance services in respect of any Hosted Website. Without limiting this exclusion, you also agree that Domain Directors accepts no responsibility for any deficiency or inaccuracy in any Hosted Website that is attributable to defects in that website.

7. Fees

You agree that:

1. Where you have appointed an Approved Domain Directors Provider to manage your Domain Name, and the Approved Domain Directors Provider provides you with billing services, the fees payable for any Domain Name Service, and the payment terms for that Domain Name Service, will be as agreed between you and the Approved Domain Directors Provider; or
2. Where you have elected to manage your own Domain Name, or have appointed an Approved Domain Directors Provider to manage your Domain Name which does not supply billing services to you:
   1. the fees for any Domain Name Service or any Web and Email Service are as set out in the relevant 'pricing' pages of the Domain Directors website; and
   2. if Domain Directors is required to incur additional charges in connection with the provision of any Domain Name Service or Web and Email Service to you, we will notify you prior to incurring any such additional charge;
   3. you will pay the fees for any Domain Name Service or any Web and Email Service to Domain Directors in accordance with the payment terms set out on the Domain Directors Website at the time the Domain Name and/or Web and Email Service application is submitted to Domain Directors, or, as otherwise specified on the Domain Directors Website or these Terms of Service;
   4. Domain Directors may alter any fees set out in this clause 7 at any time on 30 days prior written notice; and
   5. the payment terms related to any Domain Name Service and/or Domain Directors Service include the following:
      1. All fees are payable in advance unless specified otherwise.
      2. All fees are non-refundable.
      3. A renewal fee is payable in respect of the renewal of each Domain Name registration.
      4. Domain Directors has no obligation to record the registration of any Domain Name if Domain Directors has not received the applicable fees for that Domain Name.
      5. Failure to pay the domain name renewal fee in respect of a Domain Name registration will result in cancellation of that domain name registration.
      6. If you transfer the Domain Name to another entity or Registrar all charges owing to Domain Directors as at the date of the transfer are immediately due for payment.
      7. Any amounts payable by a Registrant as a result of exceeding email or website limits will be charged monthly in arrears and will be due by the date specified on the invoice.

8. Cancellation of a Domain Name or a Web and/or Email Service

You may cancel a Domain Name or any Web and Email Service at any time by notifying Domain Directors in writing. You agree that:

1. on receipt of such notice, Domain Directors will cancel the relevant Domain Name and/or cancel the relevant Web and Email Service; and
2. Domain Directors will have no liability to you whatsoever in relation to such deletion and/or cancellation.
3. Domain Directors may, in its sole discretion, cancel a Domain Name and any additional services such as Web and Email Services provided to you by Domain Directors in respect of that Domain Name upon 14 days’ notice where you fail to pay any fees that are due to Domain Directors.
4. Either party may terminate this agreement and cancel the Domain Name on one month’s written notice to the other party.

9. Termination or Expiry of these Terms of Service

1. Where the Registrant transfers its Domain Name from Domain Directors to another Registrar in accordance with the relevant ccTLD Policies and these Terms of Service, the parties agree that these Terms of Service will terminate effective from the date of such transfer.
2. The parties agree that these Terms of Service will terminate on the effective date of the cancellation of the Registrant’s Domain Name (and associated Web and Email Services) in accordance with the terms specified in the Cancellation of a Domain Name or a Web and/or Email Service Section of these Terms of Service.
3. The parties agree that these Terms of Service will expire where the Registrant’s Domain Name licence expires and is not renewed by the Registrant prior to the deletion of the Domain Name.

10. Exclusions and Limitations of Liability

1. Domain Directors does not investigate whether or not any Registrant is entitled to register or hold any rights in a Domain Name or request any Web and Email Services, except for ccTLDs where such investigation is required by the policy set out by the relevant registry.
2. By registering a Domain Name, Domain Directors is not acknowledging that any person has any rights in the name or words comprised in the Domain Name and does not authorise any person to use the Domain Name in the course of trade.
3. You agree that no Relevant Party will have any liability to you for any claim arising from any breach of this agreement by a Relevant Party or any act or omission of any Relevant Party except where any Relevant Party has acted in bad faith.
4. You agree that where a Relevant Party has acted in bad faith, or where Domain Directors has acted negligently, the liability of such party to you will be capped to the amount of the fees paid by you to Domain Directors in the month immediately prior to the event of liability in respect of the Domain Name.
5. All conditions and warranties, which may be implied by law into this contract, are excluded except to the extent that it would be unlawful to do so. You agree that this clause is for the benefit of each Relevant Party.

11. Indemnities

1. You indemnify and hold harmless Domain Directors on its own behalf, and as agent for each other Relevant Party, from and against all liability or loss, cost, expense or damage (including reasonable attorneys fees) incurred or sustained as a result of, or in connection with:
   any claim or dispute pertaining to the registration of the Domain Name, whether in your name or in such name as you direct; any claim that the manner in which the Domain Name or other Service is directly or indirectly used by you or anyone for whom you are responsible infringes the legal rights of any third party; any other claim relating to the use by you or anyone for whom you are responsible, of the Domain Name, or any service provided to you under these Terms of Service; or any claim arising in relation to the content or operation of any Hosted Website (other than claims caused by Domain Directors’s breach of these Terms of Service); and provided that, you shall not be required to indemnify and hold harmless Domain Directors for any claims arising from Domain Directors’ negligence or bad faith.

12. Notices

Any notice to be given by Domain Directors under these Terms of Service or in relation to any services provided by Domain Directors will be in writing sent to the email address recorded in the Register in respect of the relevant domain name or by posting the relevant information on Domain Directors’s website. Such notice shall be deemed to have been given at the time it is sent by Domain Directors.

13. Changes to Terms of Service

Domain Directors reserves the right to amend these Terms of Service at any time by thirty days’ prior written notice to you (“Relevant Notice Period”). You agree that your use of any Domain Name or other Service following the expiry of the Relevant Notice Period will constitute your acceptance of the modified Terms of Service.

14. General

1. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, these Terms of Service contain all the terms of our relationship and continues to apply no matter where you are located at the time any of the Services are provided or where you reside, and shall continue to apply until these Terms of Service are cancelled or terminated, except as otherwise stated in these Terms of Service.
2. Domain Directors may transfer its rights and obligations under these Terms of Service to any third party upon prior written notice to you.
3. If any provision of these Terms of Service is held to be unenforceable in whole or in part all other provisions contained herein shall continue to be valid and enforceable.
4. Each provision of these Terms of Service is separately binding on Domain Directors. If, for any reason, you, any Relevant Party cannot rely on any applicable provision in these Terms of Service, all other applicable provisions in these Terms of Service shall nonetheless be binding.
5. To the extent permitted, the parties agree that:
   1. any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms of Service must be brought within 60 days from the date on which the event giving rise to the dispute or claim occurred;
   2. where you or any Registrant for whom you are acting as agent supplies incorrect information regarding a Domain Name and Domain Directors incurs costs in any matter concerning that Domain Name, Domain Directors may recover those costs from you.
   3. The cancellation or termination of these Terms of Service will not affect any rights or obligations that have arisen prior to such cancellation or termination of these Terms of Service, and which by their nature survive (or should survive) the cancellation or termination, including, without limitation, any warranties, indemnities and limitations of liability provisions.
6. Domain Directors is a certified service partner of Tucows Inc, an ICANN accreditted registrar. Tucows Inc is the upline provider of each global top level domain (gTLDs) that we sell under the following name spaces:
   
   
   .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ, and .MOBI
   
   
   All communication relating to the registration, management or updating of your global top level domain name should be addressed directly to Domain Directors.
   
   Details relating to the global service partner contract between Tucows Inc and Domain Directors Pty Ltd can be found online at:
   
   http://www.instra.com/policies/TucowsDDAgreement.htm
   
   Both Domain Directors Pty Ltd and Tucows, Inc are both parties to this agreement.