Contract Terms

This document outlines the contract terms for our domain query tools and phishing feed.

WHOIS
WHOIS2
DAC
Searchable WHOIS
Definitions and interpretation

WHOIS Contract Terms

Use of the WHOIS by any means is subject to these terms and conditions: you may not access the WHOIS if you do not agree to them and you may only use the data returned by a WHOIS query if the use is permitted by these terms. If you send a WHOIS query to us (or cause one to be sent) you are representing to us that you agree to these terms.

Who we are: We are Nominet UK, the central, neutral registry for the .uk Top Level Domain Name and for the publicly available second level domains (currently .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .ltd.uk, .plc.uk, .net.uk and .sch.uk). Registered in England No: 3203859.

How we provide the WHOIS: We provide the WHOIS free of charge through various channels, e.g. via our website (as explained in the Instructions for Use), and via queries to our whois server whois.nic.uk (as explained in the Detailed Instructions). If you use the WHOIS2, Domain Availability Checker systems or Searchable Whois you must also agree to their specific terms of use.

Purpose of the WHOIS and no promises of accuracy:

We provide the WHOIS as a publicly viewable register solely to allow users to obtain information about the existence and status of the domain name and the identity of the registrant and registration agent of the domain name for the general purposes set out below but always subject to the restrictions listed below. At times it may lag behind the underlying register by several minutes.
We do not guarantee the accuracy or availability of the WHOIS records. Any WHOIS record provided is provided on an “as is” basis without any representations or warranties of any kind.
We are not liable for any damages or loss of any kind arising out of or in connection with the WHOIS or the records generated by the WHOIS or for any omissions or errors in the WHOIS records.

Use of WHOIS and data: You may not:

re-package, compile, re-distribute or re-use any or all of the WHOIS database or data (unless you are a lawful user using an insubstantial part);
use any or all of the WHOIS data for advertising or as part of a process of identifying entities, names or addresses for future advertising activity of any sort (any such use may also be unlawful under the Data Protection Act 1998);
obscure, remove, hide or alter any part of the copyright notice and legal wording returned with a .uk WHOIS result; or
conduct queries of a nature, rate or volume prohibited by our acceptable use policy. Note that we record details about all whois queries for the purposes of detecting and preventing unacceptable use.

Unless you show the user no part of the WHOIS output at all and simply report on availability or status (NB. if this is what you primarily do, it may be more appropriate for you to use the Domain Availability Checker).

Control of the WHOIS: We are entitled to change the WHOIS records, or withdraw the service, at any time. We are entitled, in our sole discretion, to terminate or slow down your access to the WHOIS for any reason, particularly breach of the acceptable use policy or a failure to adhere to, or accept, these terms or any part of them.

Excluded Queries: Domain names not under Nominet UK’s control (e.g. .com), not directly operated by us (e.g. .gov.uk) or created directly under .uk (e.g. co.uk, bl.uk) or which cannot be registered do not return valid results on this WHOIS. The operator of the .ac.uk and .gov.uk domain names operates a whois service for them: see https://community.jisc.ac.uk/apps/janet-whois

Guidance on proper purposes for the WHOIS: This is not an exhaustive list, and is always subject to the restrictions above, but generally the WHOIS is intended to:

identify whether or not the domain name is registered, provided that you do not have access to the Domain Availability Checker system;
identify the person or host responsible for a domain name (e.g. to confirm that this matches the apparent provider of a website, email or other service related to the domain name);
allow registrants of .uk domain names to see information about their domain name;
show publicly if a domain name is in a special status; and
locate and contact the registrant and/or host of the domain name in relation to the prevention or detection of systems abuse, or to establish or defend legal rights (including an intent to use the Dispute Resolution Service).

You must comply with the Acceptable Use Policy and the Instructions for Use and the Detailed Instructions.

The service is currently provided free of charge.

How to Apply

To apply for access to the WHOIS2 please use the online application form.

You must also confirm that you accept the Terms and Conditions of the WHOIS2 contract.

Usage

Clause 3 of the Terms and Conditions sets out query limits and rules about the format of the queries, and refers to the limits in the Acceptable Use Policy.

Clause 4 explains what you can do with the information you receive which includes the general WHOIS terms.

The main purpose of the WHOIS2 is to provide a way for you to make a WHOIS lookup service available to your customers.

Please note that the WHOIS2 service is not intended to be used for your own personal use. Clause 4.1 of the contract states that you may not use the WHOIS2 service in such a way that you are both the end user and the WHOIS gateway, nor may you falsify the client data that is sent to us.

The IP addresses used for the gateway must be registered with us through your online service account.

WHOIS2 Terms and Conditions

NOTE: These terms relate to the use of the WHOIS by those acting as WHOIS2 gateways. These are different from the WHOIS1 terms of use, which also apply to the end user of a WHOIS2.

1. Interpretation

1.1. In this contract words written in bold have a special meaning:

1.1.1. our document ‘The Definitions and Interpretation Terms’ which gives a list of standard definitions and rules on the interpretation of contracts is incorporated in this contract as if it was set out in full – it lists most of the terms given special meaning here; and

1.1.2. other words with special meanings are listed below:

contract (i) these terms, (ii) The Definitions and Interpretation Terms’ (see clause 1.1.1) and (iii) the credit and payment terms

bad query any query or other request to the WHOIS2 system which;

• is not in the WHOIS2 format;

• is sent in an incorrect manner (e.g. to the incorrect port),

• has incorrect, faked, fraudulent, stored, invented or misleading end user domain name or IP address details,

• is for a domain name which cannot be queried via WHOIS2,

• is submitted on behalf of an end user who has exceeded their limit;

• is sent by an end user who does not accept the WHOIS1 terms of use;

• is part of a pattern of abuse which we have brought to your attention or which you know about for any other reason; and/or

• exceeds the limit (or your individual limit , if one is set); and

the format and other requirements of and for WHOIS2 queries set out on our website.

2. Grant

2.1. On the terms of this contract and subject to the policy, you may use our WHOIS2 system.

2.2. Only domain names for which we supply WHOIS responses generally will receive a valid response to a WHOIS2 query. A list of the domain names we provide WHOIS responses for is set out in the WHOIS1 terms of use. We may in the future be able to increase the range of domain names for which we will provide a WHOIS response: if this is possible, but the information is sourced from a third party (because, for example, it relates to a second level domain we do not operate), we may make (on giving 30 days’ notice on our website) such reasonable changes to this contract as are necessary to effect such an expansion of the WHOIS.

3. Limits and Method of Use

3.1. In our acceptable use policy we specify the limit for WHOIS2 use and the limit applies to you unless we decide that your particular circumstances justify the setting of a different limit specific to you.

3.2. We aim to notify you of any changes to the limit or acceptable use policy in advance but this may not always be possible when dealing with urgent abuse.

3.3. You must not exceed your limit, but if despite this you do exceed your limit;

3.3.1. we shall, in accordance with the acceptable use policy, slow responses to queries, or ignore or block some or all queries ; and

3.3.2. if you exceed your limit on multiple occasions, or seriously exceed your limit on one or more occasions, we may suspend or cancel this contract in accordance with clause 6.2.

3.4. There is a total number of permitted WHOIS queries for each end user which they may make via any form of our WHOIS. This limit is stated in the acceptable use policy. We may reject queries originated by end users who have exceeded their limit or who are subject to sanctions for abuse without regard to your limit.

3.5. We will publish guidance for users of the WHOIS2 on our website which will specify the WHOIS2 format. You must make reasonable efforts to comply with that guidance in your use of the WHOIS2. If you do not comply with the guidance, our systems may not recognise or respond to your queries .

3.6. The connection to our WHOIS server is the means by which you are identified to us so you must not do, or permit, anything which would lead to incorrect, inaccurate, false or misleading information being given as part of the connection (as distinct from the queries made over that connection).

3.7. We will only permit you to connect to the WHOIS2 service when you do so from (one of) the IP address(es) specified in your application. The limit is set ‘per user’ not ‘per IP address’.

3.8. If we think that you may not be complying with clauses 3.5 and/or 3.6, we may request in writing evidence from you which shows how you do (or do not) comply and you shall promptly supply us with such evidence in the form requested.

4. Use of WHOIS data

4.1. The purpose of the WHOIS2 is to allow users to act as a gateway for end users who are making a live query. If you wish to make a WHOIS query yourself, you must use the WHOIS1 service or (if appropriate) the DAC: you may not use the WHOIS2 service in such a way that you are both the end user and the WHOIS2 gateway.

4.2. Where you have made a WHOIS2 query on behalf of an end user you:

4.2.1. may not intercept or make a copy of the address data (if any) returned by us; but

4.2.2. provided you accept and abide by the WHOIS1 terms of use in respect of the WHOIS2 result (and do not block any part of the result from the end user) you may intercept a copy of all other elements of the WHOIS2 result.

4.3. You must not permit the use of the WHOIS2 from your computer systems or those under your control unless;

4.3.1. the output passed to the end user clearly contains in legible form all elements of the WHOIS2 output, including all intellectual property rights notices, terms of use, and disclaimers;

4.3.2. the source of the WHOIS result is not misrepresented, amended, confused or disguised;

4.3.3. you have no reason to believe that the end user has not accepted in full, and intends to comply with, the WHOIS1 terms of use; and

4.3.4. the query is the result of a live (within the last minute) request by the end user (i.e. the end user may not give you his IP address and ask you to keep submitting queries on his behalf without further instructions).

5. Payment

5.1. We currently provide the WHOIS2 free of charge.

6. Service Levels, Prevention of Abuse, Anti-avoidance measures

6.1. We aim to provide our services in a neutral and impartial way, and we have obligations to protect the information on the register. Accordingly we will have, and update from time to time, an acceptable use policy which will set out what constitutes abuse and how it can be dealt with, including details of;

6.1.1. levels of acceptable use (including the limit );

6.1.2. acceptable or unacceptable uses of the services we provide under this contract ;

6.1.3. acceptable or unacceptable uses of the data derived or obtained from the services we provide under this contract ;

6.1.4. activities which are banned because they provide or may provide unfair advantages to particular users or which involve co-operation between users in an attempt to secure an advantage;

6.1.5. activities which are banned because they endanger or may endanger our system(s) or which may compromise the service we can provide generally to users;

6.1.6. require users to declare to us any affiliations they may have with other users;

6.1.7. require users to provide us with reasonable evidence if they are reasonably suspected of abuse;

6.1.8. how the acceptable use policy is to be enforced;

6.1.9. what sanctions apply; and

6.1.10. anti-avoidance terms to further restrict abuse .

6.2. You must comply with this contract and the acceptable use policy . If you do not we may:

6.2.1. terminate this contract under clause 8.3.1;

6.2.2. immediately suspend this contract until such time as we are satisfied that the abuse will not reoccur; and/or

6.2.3. take such other action as is specified in the acceptable use policy .

6.3. If we suspend this contract under clause 6.2.2 we shall notify you within 24 hours.

6.4. You shall make reasonable efforts not to send bad queries to the WHOIS2. If you send bad queries to the WHOIS2 we may (subject to clause 6.5):

6.4.1. request that you alter the form of your queries so that they are no longer bad queries and we shall be entitled to ask you for, and you shall promptly provide evidence of the steps you are taking to reduce such bad queries to a level acceptable to us; and/or

6.4.2. take action under our acceptable use policy ; and/or

6.4.3. (unless the problem is short-term and minor, or long-term but trivial) terminate this contract under clause 8.3.1.

6.5. We understand that it may not be possible for the level of bad queries to be zero and accordingly we will take that into account when deciding what action (if any) to take in respect of bad queries submitted to the WHOIS2. Where it appears that the submission of bad queries was involuntary and reasonable steps are being taken to minimise future levels of bad queries our general approach will be to offer guidance rather than to take one of the other steps under this contract, but we reserve the right to use any of the options under clauses 6 or 8 as appropriate.

6.6. We do not guarantee that the WHOIS2 will be available without interruption and we may suspend its operation without notice or liability to you, for technical, legal or anti-abuse reasons.

6.7. Despite clause 6.5, our aim is to keep the WHOIS2 available and if the WHOIS2 is withdrawn for an extended period we will endeavour to explain why and give a non-binding estimate of when it, or an alternative service, is likely to be provided.

7. Third Parties, End Users and Agents

7.1. You may not assign or subcontract any of your rights and obligations under the contract without our prior written consent.

7.2. We will hold records of your identity, and any contacts relevant to the service being provided. You will ensure that every contact consents to us holding the information. It is your duty to keep us updated on whom you wish us to accept instructions from.7.3. You may write to us to ask for a copy of the records of your identity we hold about you. We may if asked in writing, give our records of your identity to people with a legitimate reason for asking for it (based on the exemptions in the Data Protection Act 1998 or similar laws that replace or follow it), including government or law enforcement agencies;

7.4. If you are issued with or have an identifier (e.g. a password, personal information or code) for use with us or our systems you must keep it secret and safe because we shall be allowed to assume that any action done or requested using that identifier or a product of it was done or requested by you or by someone authorised to act for you and we shall have, and be entitled to enforce, procedures for dealing with lost, revoked or compromised identifiers.

8. Suspension, Termination and Revision

8.1. This contract begins on the date that we notify you that we have accepted your application to use the WHOIS2 and continues indefinitely unless terminated, or suspended, in accordance with the contract.

8.2. Either party may terminate this contract by notifying the other party not less than one month in advance.

8.3. (Without altering clause 6.2), either party may terminate or suspend this contract by notifying the other if the other:

8.3.1. commits a material breach of any term of the contract and (in the case of a breach which is capable of remedy) fails within 14 days after the other notifies them to remedy the breach and explain in writing the steps taken to remedy of the breach; or

8.3.2. has a receiver or similar officer appointed over it or any part of its assets, or passes a resolution for winding up (except for the purpose of a genuine scheme of solvent amalgamation or reconstruction), or becomes insolvent, bankrupt or subject to an administration order, or enters into any voluntary arrangement with its or his/her creditors, or ceases or threatens to cease to carry on business.

8.4. Where either party (being a body corporate) has ceased to exist, or (being an individual) has died, the duty to notify under clause 8.3.2 is waived.

8.5. Any termination, suspension or expiry of the contract will not affect any accrued rights of action of either party, nor will it affect the coming into force or continuation in force of any provision of this contract which is expressly, or by implication, intended to come into or continue in force on or after termination or expiry.

8.6. Any termination, suspension or expiry of the contract will not affect the application to or validity of the ‘Definitions and Interpretation Terms’ (clause 1.1.1) or the credit and payment termsin relation to any other contract in which they are incorporated.

9. Accuracy, and Exclusions of Liability

9.1. We are entitled to change the register or WHOIS records, at any time.

9.2. The WHOIS may not be a real-time system, and is not designed to assist you to register domain names which have recently been deleted from the register and you should be aware that the WHOIS data can be up to 15 minutes behind the register from which it is sourced.

9.3. Nothing in this contract shall be taken to attempt to exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence or for fraudulent misrepresentation.

9.4. Subject to clause 9.3;

9.4.1. all representations, and all warranties, whether express or implied by statute, law or otherwise, relating to the operation of the WHOIS and the data in it are excluded to the maximum extent permissible by law; and

9.4.2. we will not have any liability whatsoever to you or any end user to whom you relay results as a result of any failure or inaccuracy, delay or error in the operation of the WHOIS or the information from it.

9.5. Subject to clause 9.3, we will in no event (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) be liable for;

9.5.1. any loss of revenue;

9.5.2. loss of profits;

9.5.3. loss of goodwill;

9.5.4. loss of data; or

9.5.5. indirect or consequential loss suffered by you or the end user

arising out of this contract or your use or provision of the WHOIS2 .

10. Intellectual Property and Relationship of the Parties

10.1. Neither this contract, nor action taken by the parties in accordance with it, creates or will be deemed to have created a partnership, association, joint venture or other co-operative entity between the parties. Neither party shall have any authority to bind the other in any way.

10.2. As a confirmatory assignment you assign to us any intellectual property rights you have in the register (if any).

11. General

11.1. If either party cannot perform any of its contractual obligations as a result of events beyond its reasonable control, then such party will not have to perform that obligation for the duration of the relevant event.

11.2. This contract is the entire contract between you and us in relation to this subject and supersedes all prior agreements, arrangements and understandings between the parties relating thereto. For clarity, nothing in this contract shall operate to terminate or amend any registration agent agreement, or contract in relation to the WHOIS1, Searchable Whois, DAC or other service provided by us to you.

11.3. No forbearance or delay by you or us in enforcing the provisions of the contract will prejudice or restrict its rights, nor will any waiver of any right operate as a waiver of any subsequent breach.

11.4. We may make reasonable changes to the terms of this contract from time to time after discussion with our Policy Advisory Board (or any similar body supplementing or replacing it) and after consultation with the user group for this service. We will notify you at least 30 days before the changes take effect. We will only make changes if there is a good reason for doing so.

11.5. The contract shall be governed by English law and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts, save in matters of enforcement of the judgement of an English Court, where the parties submit to the non-exclusive judgement of the English Court.

DAC Contract Terms

DAC Standard Terms and Conditions

The Domain Availability Checker (DAC) is restricted to registration agents who also have Nominet membership and allows them to make higher volume queries about the availability of domain names without getting all the information that would be provided in a WHOIS response.

1. Interpretation

1.1. In this contract words written in bold have a special meaning:

1.1.2. where used in these terms and conditions, the other words with a special meaning are:

contract means (i) these terms, (ii) ‘The Definitions and Interpretation Terms’ (see clause 1.1.1), and (iii) the credit and payment terms.

DAC means (i) the Time Delay DAC, and (ii) the Real Time DAC.

policy means (i) the Time Delay DAC Acceptable Use Policy, and (ii) the Real Time DAC Acceptable Use Policy.

2. Grant

2.1. On the terms of this contract and subject to the policy, you may use our DAC system and provide data from it to end users.

2.2. Only domain names for which we supply WHOIS responses generally will receive a valid response to a query. A list of the domain names we provide WHOIS responses for is set out in the WHOIS terms of use. We may in the future increase the range of domain names for which we will provide a query response.

3. Limits and Method of Use

3.1. In our policy we specify the limit for DAC use and the limit applies to you unless we reasonably decide that your particular circumstances justify the setting of a different limit specific to you.

3.2. We aim to notify you of any changes to the limit or policy in advance but this may not always be possible when dealing with urgent abuse.

3.3. You must not exceed your limit, but if despite this you do exceed your limit we shall have the option of:

3.3.1. slowing responses to queries, or ignoring or blocking some or all queries; and

3.3.2. if you exceed your limit on multiple occasions, or seriously exceed your limit on one or more occasions, suspending or terminating this contract (at our option);

3.3.2. treating your conduct as abuse, and dealing with it in accordance with clause 6.2.

3.4. We will publish guidance for users of the DAC on our website which will specify in what form and how queries to the DAC can/should be made. You must try to comply with that guidance in your use of the DAC. If you do not comply with the guidance, our systems may not recognise or respond to your queries and consistently submitting incorrect queries may be deemed by us as abuse.

4. Payment

4.1. We will charge for the provision of this service in line with our fees policy. The current fee is stated on our fees schedule on our website.

4.2. If we determine that the fee or method of charging should change to better reflect the need to fairly distribute the cost of providing the services amongst the users, we will notify you and if you do not accept the change of fee and notify us of that non-acceptance within 21 days the contract will end and you will not have to pay the new fee.

4.3. The credit and payment terms are incorporated in this contract as if set out in full (they are available on our website).

5. Use of register data

5.1. The data returned from a DAC query is sourced from the register in which we have the intellectual property rights.

5.2. Provided you do not breach any of the prohibitions and other terms of clause 5.3 or any other part of this contract you may do the following with the results generated by one or more DAC queries (in legal terms, we are granting you a non-exclusive, revocable licence to do these things, which we may terminate):

5.2.1. compile a list of .uk domain names together with their expiry date or other data from the DAC query and (optionally) use that list for providing services to your existing clients; or

5.2.2. in response to a query from an existing or potential customer:

5.2.2.1. confirm whether a particular domain name is available to register; and/or

5.2.2.2. confirm whether similar alternative domain names are available to register.

5.3. You may not do any or all of the following with information sourced from the register (whether from the DAC, Searchable Whois and/or WHOIS), and whether newly received or stored under clause 5.2:

5.3.1. use the information to assist in any process or activity that has the object or effect of copying a whole or substantial part of the register or a sub-database of it (e.g. a database containing only information released under the WHOIS or the DAC);

5.3.2. use the information as part of any process or activity which has the object or effect of using any of our systems or services in a way which makes it harder (or impossible) for us to spot abuse or a breach of our policy or which circumvents or reduces the effectiveness of any copy-protection device or process we have or operate;

5.3.3. use the information to market to new customers with whom you have no pre-existing relationship (e.g. to advertise to new customers);

5.3.4. represent (either directly or indirectly) to any person (unless true) that you are us, or are acting on our behalf or with our authority in any way;

5.3.5. represent (either directly or indirectly) to any person (unless true) that you are a registry, official body (whether governmental or otherwise), the controller of .uk, responsible for the operation or any part of the operation of .uk or its second level domains;

5.3.6. knowingly provide more than an insubstantial part of the register or a sub-database of it (e.g. a database containing information released under the WHOIS or the DAC) to any one third party or end user in any 24 hour period. For the avoidance of doubt and as an example, more than 1000 registered domain names taken from the DAC would be more than an insubstantial part;

5.3.7. retain (in any format) any information obtained from the DAC for a period of more than 7 days unless such information relates solely to domain names for which you are the registrant and/or registrar.

5.3.8. represent (either directly or indirectly) that the data came from a source other than us; or

5.3.9. keep or supply to another person any of the data sourced from the register after we have notified you that your licence is terminated or this contract ends.

6. Service Levels, Prevention of Abuse, Anti-avoidance measures

6.1. We aim to provide our services in a neutral and impartial way, and we have obligations to protect the information on the register. Accordingly we will have, and update from time to time, a policy which will set out what constitutes abuse and how it can be dealt with, including details of;

6.1.1. levels of acceptable use (including the limit);

6.1.2. acceptable or unacceptable uses of the services we provide under this contract;

6.1.3. acceptable or unacceptable uses of the data derived or obtained from the services we provide under this contract;

6.2. You must comply with this contract and the policy. If you do not we may:

6.2.1. terminate this contract under clause 8.4.1;

6.2.2. (for abuse) immediately suspend this contract until such time as we are reasonably satisfied that the abuse will not reoccur or, where in our sole discretion we consider such abuse to be serious, terminate this contract immediately;

6.2.3. take the action identified in clause 3.3; and/or

6.2.4 take such other reasonable action as is specified in the policy.

6.3. If we suspend this contract under clause 6.2.2 we shall notify you in writing of the suspension.

6.4. We do not guarantee that the DAC will be available without interruption and we may suspend its operation without notice or liability to you, for technical, legal or anti-abuse reasons.

6.5. Despite clause 6.4, our aim is to keep the DAC available and if the DAC is withdrawn for an extended period we will endeavour to explain why and give a non-binding estimate of when it, or an alternative service, is likely to be provided.

7. Third Parties, End Users and Agents

7.1. You may not assign or subcontract any of your rights and obligations under the contract without our prior written consent.

7.3. If you are issued with or have an identifier (e.g. a password, token, personal information or code) for use with us or our systems you must keep it secret and safe because we shall be allowed to assume that any action done or requested using that identifier or a product of it was done or requested by you or by someone authorised to act for you and we shall have, and be entitled to enforce, procedures for dealing with lost, revoked or compromised identifiers.

8. Suspension, Termination and Revision

8.1. This contract begins on the date that we notify you that we have accepted your application to use the DAC and continues indefinitely unless terminated, or suspended, in accordance with the contract.

8.2. Either party may terminate this contract by notifying the other party not less than one month in advance.

8.3. If your registration agent agreement and/or your membership of Nominet UK is terminated for any reason, this contract will terminate automatically without need for us to notify you. If all your IPSTAGs are suspended or blocked from making chargeable transactions, this contract may be suspended without need for us to notify you.

8.4. (Without affecting the operation of clause 6.2), either party may terminate or suspend this contract by notifying the other if the other:

8.4.1. commits a material breach of any term of the contract; or

8.4.2. the other has a receiver or similar officer appointed over it or any part of its assets, or passes a resolution for winding up (except for the purpose of a genuine scheme of solvent amalgamation or reconstruction), or becomes insolvent, bankrupt or subject to an administration order, or enters into any voluntary arrangement with its or his/her creditors, or ceases or threatens to cease to carry on business.

8.5. Where either party (being a body corporate) has ceased to exist, or (being an individual) has died, the duty to notify under clause 8.4.2 is waived.

8.6. Any termination, suspension or expiry of the contract will not affect any accrued rights of action of either party, nor will it affect the coming into force or continuation in force of any provision of this contract which is expressly, or by implication, intended to come into or continue in force on or after termination or expiry.

8.7. Any termination, suspension or expiry of the contract will not affect the application to or validity of the ‘Definitions and Interpretation Terms’ (clause 1.1.1) or the credit and payment terms in relation to any other contract in which they are incorporated.

9. Accuracy, and Exclusions of Liability

9.1. We are entitled to change the register records at any time.

9.2. Nothing in this contract shall be taken to attempt to exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence or for fraudulent misrepresentation.

9.3. Subject to clause 9.2;

9.3.1. all representations, and all warranties, whether express or implied by statute, law or otherwise, relating to the operation of the DAC and the data in it are excluded to the maximum extent permissible by law; and

9.3.2. we will not have any liability whatsoever to you or any third party to whom you relay results as a result of any failure or inaccuracy, delay or error in the operation of the DAC or the information from it.

9.4. Subject to clause 9.2, we will in no event (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) be liable for;

9.4.1. any loss of revenue;

9.4.2. loss of profits;

9.4.3. loss of goodwill;

9.4.4. loss of data; or

9.4.5. indirect or consequential loss

suffered by you or the end user, and arising out of this contract or your use or provision of the DAC.

10. Intellectual Property and Relationship of the Parties

10.2. As a confirmatory assignment you assign to us any intellectual property rights you have in the register (if any) including by way of future assignment where necessary.

11. General

11.2. This contract is the entire contract between you and us in relation to their subject matter and supersedes all prior agreements, arrangements and understandings between the parties relating thereto. For clarity, nothing in this contract shall operate to terminate or amend any registration agent agreement, or contract in relation to the WHOIS, WHOIS2, Searchable Whois or other service provided by us to you.

11.3. No forbearance or delay by you or us in enforcing the provisions of the contract will prejudice or restrict your or our rights, nor will any waiver of any right operate as a waiver of any subsequent breach.

11.4. Neither party may assign this contract or any rights or obligations arising from it.

11.5. A person who is not a party to this agreement shall not have any rights under or in connection with it.

11.6. We may make reasonable changes to the terms of this contract from time to time after discussion with our Policy Advisory Board (or any similar body supplementing or replacing it) and after consultation with the user group for this service. We will notify you at least 30 days before the changes take effect. We will only make changes if there is a good reason for doing so and no change will take away the protection you receive under clause 4.2 from price changes.

11.7. The contract and your use of the DAC shall be governed by English law and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts, save that we shall have the right to bring proceedings against you or enforce any judgment we obtain against you in your country of residence or any other relevant country.

Searchable Whois Terms and Conditions

1. Grant

1.1. You may use the Searchable WHOIS subject to these terms and conditions, including the Searchable WHOIS Acceptable Use Policy set out in Schedule 3.

2. Limits and Method of Use

2.1. In our Acceptable Use Policy we specify the limit for Searchable WHOIS queries.

2.2. We aim to notify you of any changes to the limit or Acceptable Use Policy in advance but this may not always be possible when dealing with urgent abuse.

2.3. You must not exceed your limit, but if despite this you do exceed your limit:

2.3.1. we shall, in accordance with the Acceptable Use Policy, slow responses to queries and/or not answer queries; and

2.3.2. if you exceed your limit on multiple occasions, or seriously exceed your limit on one or more occasions, we may suspend or cancel your ability to use Searchable WHOIS in accordance with clause 6.3.

3. Payment

3.1. We will charge for the provision of this service in line with our Fee Schedule. Payment is due within 30 days of invoice.

4. Use of Searchable WHOIS data

4.1. The Searchable WHOIS is designed for the purposes set out in the whitelist, but this is for guidance only. If there is conflict between the whitelist and the blacklist (including any extensions to it under the Acceptable Use Policy, below), the blacklist has priority.

4.2. You may use the Searchable WHOIS and the data from it provided that:

4.2.1. you do not use the Searchable WHOIS or more than an insubstantial amount of data from it for any of the purposes or practices banned in the blacklist;

4.2.2. you comply with these terms and conditions and the Acceptable Use Policy in force from time to time; and

4.2.3. you comply with data protection law in force in the United Kingdom, and, providing that it does not conflict with United Kingdom data protection law, the data protection law of the state(s) in which you operate.

5. Service Levels, Prevention of Abuse, Anti-avoidance measures

5.1. We will have, and update from time to time, an Acceptable Use Policy.

5.2. Upon request, you must confirm to us (providing evidence, where requested);

5.2.1. the purposes to which you are putting the service;

5.2.2. the purposes to which you are putting the data derived from our database;

5.2.3. the persons to whom you have disclosed any data derived from our database; and

5.2.4. whether you are holding any data derived from our database.

5.3. You must comply with these terms and conditions and the Acceptable Use Policy. If you do not we may:

5.3.1. terminate your use of the Searchable WHOIS service under clause 7.3.1;

5.3.2. (for abuse) immediately suspend your use of the Searchable WHOIS service until such time as we are satisfied that the abuse will not reoccur; and/or

5.3.3. take such other reasonable action as is specified in the Acceptable Use Policy.

5.4. If we suspend your use of the Searchable WHOIS service under clause 5.3.2 we shall notify you as soon as possible and in any event within 1 working day of the suspension.

5.5. We do not guarantee that the Searchable WHOIS service will be available without interruption and we may suspend its operation without notice or liability to you, for technical, legal or anti-abuse reasons.

5.6. Despite clause 5.5, our aim is to keep the Searchable WHOIS service available and if it is withdrawn for an extended period we will endeavour to explain why and give a non-binding estimate of when it, or an alternative service, is likely to be provided.

6. Third Parties, End Users and Agents

6.1. You may not assign or subcontract any of your rights and obligations under these terms and conditions without our prior written consent.

6.2. We will hold records of your identity, and any contacts relevant to the service being provided. You will ensure that every contact consents to us holding the information. It is your duty to keep us updated on whom you wish us to accept instructions from.

6.3. If you are issued with or have an identifier (e.g. a password, personal information or code) for use with us or our systems you must keep it secret and safe because we shall be allowed to assume that any action done or requested using that identifier or a product of it was done or requested by you or by someone authorised to act for you and we shall have, and be entitled to enforce, procedures for dealing with lost, revoked or compromised identifiers.

6.4. You may pass data obtained from the Searchable WHOIS to third parties (such as your customers) provided that, before doing so, they enter into a written agreement that contains at least the following terms:

6.4.1. that they will comply with UK data protection law (and, if they are based outside the UK, their own local data protection legislation);

6.4.2. that they will not export the data outside the European Economic Area;

6.4.3. that they may not pass the data to any other person;

6.4.4. that they will not combine the data with any other data (e.g. that they will not incorporate the data in a database);

6.4.5. that they will comply with the blacklist and not use the data for the purposes prohibited by the blacklist;

6.4.6. that they will provide to us, on demand, any such evidence as we reasonably require that they have complied with their obligations; and

6.4.7. that any element of these terms and conditions with them relating to use or non-use of Searchable WHOIS derived data or covered by clauses 6.4.1 to 6.4.6 above is specifically stated as being enforceable by us under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, in addition to the rights the parties to the contract have against each other.

7. Suspension, Termination and Revision

7.1. These terms and conditions take effect from the date that we notify you that we have accepted your application to use the Searchable WHOIS and continue indefinitely unless terminated or suspended.

7.2. Either party may terminate the provision of the Searchable WHOIS service by notifying the other party not less than one month in advance.

7.3. (Without altering clause 5.3), either party may terminate or suspend the provision of the Searchable WHOIS service by notifying the other if the other:

7.3.1. commits a material breach of any of these terms and conditions and (in the case of a breach which is capable of remedy) fails within 14 days after the other notifies them to remedy the breach and explain in writing the steps taken to remedy of the breach; or

7.3.2. has a receiver or similar officer appointed over it or any part of its assets, or passes a resolution for winding up (except for the purpose of a genuine scheme of solvent amalgamation or reconstruction), or becomes insolvent, bankrupt or subject to an administration order, or enters into any voluntary arrangement with its or his/her creditors, or ceases or threatens to cease to carry on business.

7.4. Where either party (being a body corporate) has ceased to exist, or (being an individual) has died, the duty to notify under clause 7.3.2 is waived.

7.5. Any termination, suspension or expiry of the contract will not affect any accrued rights of action of either party, nor will it affect the coming into force or continuation in force of any provision of these terms and conditions which is expressly, or by implication, intended to come into or continue in force on or after termination or expiry.

8. Accuracy, and Exclusions of Liability

8.1. We are entitled to change the register, Searchable WHOIS or WHOIS records, at any time.

8.2. Nothing in these terms and conditions shall be taken to attempt to exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence or for fraudulent misrepresentation.

8.3. Subject to clause 8.2;

8.3.1. all representations, and all warranties, whether express or implied by statute, law or otherwise, relating to the operation of the Searchable WHOIS and the data in it are excluded to the maximum extent permissible by law; and

8.3.2. we will not have any liability whatsoever to you or any end user to whom you relay results as a result of any failure or inaccuracy, delay or error in the operation of the Searchable WHOIS or the information from it.

8.4. Subject to clause 8.2, we will in no event (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) be liable for;

8.4.1. any loss of revenue;

8.4.2. loss of profits;

8.4.3. loss of goodwill;

8.4.4. loss of data; or

8.4.5. indirect or consequential loss suffered by you or the end user arising out of your Use of or our provision of the Searchable WHOIS.

9. Intellectual Property and Relationship of the Parties

9.1. Nothing in these terms and conditions, nor action taken by either party in accordance with them, creates or will be deemed to have created a partnership, association, joint venture or other co-operative entity between the parties. Neither party shall have any authority to bind the other in any way.

9.2. As a confirmatory assignment you assign to us all intellectual property rights you have in the register (if any).

10. General

10.1. If either party cannot perform any of its contractual obligations as a result of events beyond its reasonable control, then such party will not have to perform that obligation for the duration of the relevant event.

10.2. These terms and conditions form the entire agreement between us in relation to the provision of the Searchable WHOIS service, and supersedes all prior agreements, arrangements and understandings between us for Searchable WHOIS.

10.3. No forbearance or delay by you or us in enforcing any of the provisions of these terms and conditions will prejudice or restrict their rights, nor will any waiver of any right operate as a waiver of any subsequent breach.

10.4. Neither party may assign any of their rights or obligations arising from these terms and conditions.

10.5. We may make reasonable changes to these terms and conditions at any time. We will notify you at least 30 days before the changes take effect.

10.6. The contract shall be governed by English law and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts, save in matters of enforcement of the judgement of an English Court, where the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Court.

Schedule I – Blacklist

You may not use the Searchable WHOIS or any data derived from it in any way forbidden by these terms and conditions generally and/or for any of the following purposes:

For advertising
For marketing
For any activity which forms part of future marketing or advertising activities including identifying future targets or their contact information for any such activity
For making public comparisons of the domain registration habits of a registrar as against another registrar (but for clarity: it is permissible to highlight a registrar’s registration habits if these constitute evidence of a pattern of abusive, illegal or bad faith registrations)
For creating lists to assist in any way the dissemination of mass communications (e.g. spam) of any type
For any purpose which is prohibited under the Acceptable Use Policy
For any activity which gives the impression that someone other than us holds the register or is the .uk registry
For any activity where someone impersonates us or any of our staff
To copy all or a substantial part of the register or subsidiary database
For statistical purposes, except non-commercial academic research
In any way which breaches UK data protection law (e.g. the Data Protection Act 1998) or which would cause or permit us to be in breach of data protection law
As an authoritative source of information as to the exact time as which a domain becomes free for registration.
To be linked with the information derived from other Searchable WHOIS subscriptions (whether yours or another persons) in any way which aggregates the information obtained

Also you may not:

Aid, abet, counsel, procure, assist, permit or collaborate with another to do anything prohibited in the acceptable use policy or this blacklist
Pass any data derived from the Searchable WHOIS to any third party, unless you comply with clause 7.4
Resell the data derived from the Searchable WHOIS except to the extent that if you are providing a service to a third party whereby they want their names, trademarks (whether registered or unregistered) or similar rights supervised or protected, and you are providing them with a list of domains and other information specifically related to that you may sell that list to them.
Use the information to obtain addresses to offer to buy names.

Schedule 2 – Whitelist

The Searchable WHOIS is designed to assist in the following activities and we think it is unlikely that these will have to be blacklisted in future:

To assist in the establishing or defending of intellectual property rights and other similar matters
To assist in the maintenance of your existing domain name portfolios
To assist in gathering information for cases under the Dispute Resolution Service (.uk disputes), Uniform Dispute Resolution Service (.com and gTLD disputes) or other similar system.
To assist in academic research
Detecting, preventing, investigating, prosecuting criminal offences and possible offences
Detecting, investigating and preventing use of false identities (e.g. fake universities, impersonation of police forces etc.)
Governmental functions and administration of justice
To spot patterns of domain registration associated with spam or other antisocial internet behaviour

Schedule 3 – Acceptable Use Policy

The Searchable WHOIS allows subscribers to perform advanced searches of the domain name register by registrant or domain name.

Searches are constrained to include at least 3 characters
Searches are limited to 21,000 results per week

Real-time monitoring alerts staff to unusual activity levels and a Searchable WHOIS summary activity report is automatically produced at the end of each 24-hour period and monitored by a member of the support team.

Definitions

1. In this contract the words in bold will have the following meanings unless the context requires otherwise:

abuse – has the meaning given in our acceptable use policy from time to time, but includes:

use which involves the making of excessive queries (either in volume or rate);
use without accepting and abiding by this contract;
doing or failing to do anything which has the object or effect of altering or circumventing the limit;
doing anything which has the object or effect of making it harder for us to discover or prevent abuse; or
doing anything which has the effect of overloading our system to the detriment of other users.

acceptable use policy – our acceptable use policies in relation to the use of our services (e.g. whois1, whois2, DAC and Searchable Whois) published on our website from time to time which defines abuse and provides binding rules on:

levels of acceptable use (including the limit);
acceptable or unacceptable methods of use of the services;
acceptable or unacceptable uses of the data derived or obtained from us;
activities which are banned because they provide or may provide unfair advantages to particular users or which involve co-operation between users in an attempt to secure an advantage;
activities which are banned because they endanger or may endanger our system(s) or which may compromise the service we can provide generally to users;
obligations to require users to declare to us any affiliations they may have with other users;
obligations on users to require them to provide us with reasonable evidence to prove they are complying with the acceptable use policy;
how the acceptable use policy is to be enforced;
what sanctions apply; and
anti-avoidance terms, e.g. linking provisions.

the credit and payment terms – are our standard terms for the providing of credit accounts which we use across most of the services we provide in order to assist those who use more than one service (credit is not provided to consumers);
contacts – in our record of you there may be a feature that allows you to specify someone (either yourself or someone else – we may restrict who can act for you) as being the contact person for dealing with element of the administration (e.g. an ‘administration’ contact for dealing with general matters) – the person listed is a ‘contact’;
contract – this will be defined in each specific contract, and will explain what does and does not form part of that contract;
DAC – our ‘Domain Availability Checker’ service which allows users to determine basic information about a domain without returning a whois result (available only under the specific contract for that service);
end user – any customer or third party to whom you provide any part of the information or data derived from your use of the service provided by us under this contract, whether or not that information is or has been further processed;
fees policy – our policy which sets the basis on which we can charge for services we provide: it is available in full on our website but in summary it says that, where only we can provide a service (e.g. because it is a service that only the registry can provide) we will charge on a ‘cost-recovery’, non-profit basis only. This may be on any basis which achieves this aim, e.g. flat fee, fee per query or fee based on previous usage provided that we do not make a profit overall.
intellectual property rights – trademarks, service marks, registered designs, utility models, patents, applications for any of the foregoing, copyright, design rights, database rights, confidential information, trade and business names and any other similar protected rights in any country whether existing or to be created and whether vested or contingent;
limit – the maximum number and frequency of queries in a given time period which you may submit to us under this contract which is specified by us in the acceptable use policy from time to time;
notify – any duty to notify or give notice may (unless another form is specified) be by email, automaton message (if a standard form is established), EPP response (if a standard form is established), fax or post and shall be effective on the earlier of (a) the time of sending of the electronic communication or fax, (b) two days after posting by first class pre-paid post, or (c) receipt: and shall be validly served if sent to (in the case of us) our address given on our website at the time and (if sent to you) the address we hold for you in respect of this contract, or your registered office (if applicable), or the relevant contact for the service;
policy – has the same meaning as acceptable use policy
Searchable Whois – which allows extended searches of the register (available only under the specific contract for that service);
query/queries – a request or message to the system which is the subject of the contract in the manner and form we specify;
register – the database of those domain names in and under the .uk top level domain operated by us and (if we are providing data in relation to any domain names as part of the contract which are not recorded with us), the database of those domain names as well;
registrant – the person recorded on the register as being the person with whom we have a contract to provide services to in relation to that domain name and who therefore controls it (N.B. some domain names registered before our control of .uk started have people listed as registrants who we do not have a contract with and are not therefore obligated to);
registrar – someone who has entered into an agreement with us (the registrar agreement) which allows them to access our automated systems and register, renew and maintain domain names on behalf of their customers: the registrar is employed by the registrant to deal with us on the customer’s behalf;
registrar agreement – the contract that a registrar must enter into with us before they are allowed to interface with our systems on behalf of registrants;
registration agent – a previous name for registrar (also known as tag holder)
special status – a contract which in ‘special status’ is one which is in suspension or has been limited in some other way (which we will define on our website from time to time) as result of non-compliance;
suspension – while this contract is suspended, you shall not be permitted to make any queries or use of the service and we shall have no obligations to you but the contract shall not be deemed to be terminated and may be reinstated on notice by us to you;
tag holder – the previous name for registrar (also known as registration agent);
tag holder’s agreement/THA – the name for the previous version of the registrar agreement;
whois1 – the classic form of whois available to the public (available only under the specific contract for that service);
whois2 – a modified form of the whois designed for use by those making high volume whoisqueries on behalf of end users (available only under the specific contract for that service);
whois1 terms of use – the terms of use of the whois1;
2. The following words have special meanings, but will not be put in bold:
us, our, we – Nominet UK, a company limited by guarantee number 3203859 of Minerva House, Edmund Halley Road, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4DQ; and
you, your – the person, firm, organisation or company who we contract with (see also ‘6’ below).

Interpretation

3. In this contract references to:
3.1. any statute, policy, or the acceptable use policy, shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that statute, policy, acceptable use policy or those terms of use as from time to time amended, consolidated, modified, extended, re-enacted or replaced;
3.2. a ‘clause’ or ‘sub-clause’ shall refer to a clause or sub-clause of the contract; and
3.3. the heading will not affect the construction of the contract.
4. If any clause is held to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the invalid or unenforceable wording shall be deemed to be omitted.
5. If you are the operator of a second level domain under .uk nothing in this contract shall act or be interpreted to act as removing, restricting, transferring to us or otherwise challenging:
5.1. your intellectual property rights in the register of that second level domain; or
5.2. your control of that second level domain.
6. Any reference to you in respect of a duty to notify, or take instructions, includes any contact for that purpose on our records for that service (e.g. if we are required to issue an invoice to you, we can satisfy that obligation by sending it to your listed ‘billing contact’, whether or not that is actually you).

Nominet

Registrar Resources