.сайт and .онлайн Pioneer Name Challenge Procedure (PNCP)

Grounds for Challenge

All .сайт and .онлайн Pioneer Name applicants must submit to this mandatory Pioneer Name Challenge Procedure (“PNCP”) in the event that a complainant meets each of the following three elements:

1.     The challenged Pioneer Name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark in which the complainant has rights, provided that such trademark:

(a)    is a word trademark;

(b)     has been registered prior to 1 July 2012; and

(c)     has effective presence in the market. In assessing the fulfillment of this requirement CORE may take into account the market share of the mark, the intensity, geographical extent and duration of its use, and the size of the investment made by the claimant in promoting it.

2.     The holder of the challenged Pioneer Name has no rights or legitimate interests in respect to that name. The holder of the challenged Pioneer Name will be presumed to have legitimate interest if:

(a)    It has the right to use the Pioneer Name as, e.g., trademark, denomination of origin, individual’s name, company  name, etc.; or if

(b)    as an individual, business, or other organization, the holder of the Pioneer Name has been commonly known by the Pioneer Name, even if it has acquired no trademark rights on it; and

3.    The challenged Pioneer Name has been applied for or is being used in bad faith. It will be presumed that the Pioneer Name has been registered in bad faith if:

(a)    The holder of the Pioneer Name has registered the Pioneer Name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or if

(b)    The holder of the Pioneer Name has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users from the claimant?s website or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant’s mark.

If the challenge prevails, the Pioneer Application will be rejected.  If no other acceptable Proposal has been submitted for that same Pioneer Name and the domain is not otherwise reserved based on the Reserved Names Policies, or if the  Pioneer Name has not been otherwise registered, such registration will be cancelled, and the domain will be available for subsequent start-up phases.

Procedure

The course of the .сайт and .онлайн Pioneer Program will be as follows:

a. Until 1 December 2013: Receipt of Pioneer Name Proposals by CORE via email.

b. Evaluation by CORE of .сайт and .онлайн Pioneer Name proposals, including assessment of the eligibility requirements.

c. Posting of Pioneer Names selected by CORE at  http://cyrillicregistry.com/pioneers/. Without prejudice to this, potential challengers are encouraged to communicate with CORE and submit their challenges upon discovering potentially infringing applications.

d. The deadline to submit challenges to Pioneer Names will end 30 days after the eligible Pioneer Proposal has been published at http://cyrillicregistry.com/pioneers/.

e. To challenge a Pioneer Name, the trademark owner (challenger) must:
e.i. Submit a written challenge proving the fulfillment of the three elements referred above, along with supporting evidence.  Challenges must be sent via email to pioneers@corenic.org (Subject: “Pioneer Challenge”); and
e.ii. Pay a Challenge Procedure Fee of 100 Euros to CORE.

f. CORE will assess the challenge, its claims and supporting documentation. CORE may ask for further information from the challenger and/or the  Pioneer Name holder in order to make an informed decision.

g. Within 10 days after gathering all the required information, CORE will make a decision on whether the challenge should prevail and will notify the  interested parties via email.