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18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.luxuryLuxury Partners, LLCmjconcepts.comView
The .luxury gTLD will benefit registrants, internet users, and others by creating a virtual community dedicated to all types of luxury, serving luxury providers and consumers of their products and services. Registrants will gain higher visibility and easier searchability as well as access to relevant and brand-centric domains in a way that is currently unavailable on other gTLDs. Internet users will experience improved search functionality in a streamlined, geographic and field-specific manner. Moreover, others will benefit from the economic development and innovation fostered by this niche community space.

(i) The goal of the proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation:
Specialty: The Registry will focus on luxury goods and services, as well as their consumers, in order to support all parties interested in luxury. Both providers and consumers will have a dedicated online environment they can utilize to promote their respective luxury-related interests. Websites within this TLD will be able to specify their focus based on category, geography and target audience, expanding visibility through improved accessibility. Conversely, customers will have an enhanced user experience in locating the products, services and information for their specific luxury-related interests, through direct and relevant search results. Additionally, the introduction of a .luxury gTLD provides the potential benefit of allowing shortened strings for existing domains and also the opportunity to obtain more appropriate domains presently unavailable in other more-crowded TLDs.

Service Levels: Service levels provided by the .luxury gTLD comply with required service levels defined in Specification 10 of the gTLD Registry Agreement detailed in the ICANN gTLD Applicant Guidebook.

Reputation: The Registry’s priority is to establish a reputation as an innovative, stable, secure and accountable community; serving those involved in the numerous vertical categories traditionally associated with luxury, including providers, consumers and aficionados of luxury goods and services. Further, the managers of the Registry have established their reputation through a variety of extremely successful business endeavors and years of professional experience at the highest levels. ARI Registry Services (“ARI”), the Registry’s selected provider of registry services, has an established reputation for providing and operating a robust and reliable back-end registry service that enables multiple registrars to provide domain name registration services in the top-level domain. ARI’s proven, reliable system supports multiple registries and many registrars. ARI has a long history of meeting its service level agreements as evidenced in the Registry Operator’s Monthly Reports that ARI files with ICANN. The reports detail ARI’s operational status and its compliance with applicable service level agreements. These monthly reports are accessible from the ICANN website at the following URL: http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄tlds⁄monthly-reports⁄.

Moreover, the Registry has established a strategic relationship with industry-leading registrar Melbourne IT, thereby ensuring a first-rate consumer experience and compliance with all applicable industry policies and standards.

(ii) What the proposed gTLD anticipates adding to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation:
Competition: The proposed gTLD will promote competition by creating a digital environment dedicated to all social, informational and commercial aspects of the massive vertical luxury market and its interested parties. As such, .luxury will have a competitive advantage over other gTLDs with respect to all categories of luxury goods and services. Further, the website www.domaintools.com indicates there are currently over 103,000 domain names that include the word “luxury” in their string. Beyond domain names embodying the term luxury, there are thousands of businesses and brands around the world that promote luxury without actually using the term. As such, the .luxury gTLD presents an opportunity to shorten string length for these existing domains and provide an appealing and intuitive opportunity for registrants. Beyond just allowing for string shortening, the gTLD will enable new registrants to create domains for sharing their luxury interests and connecting with similarly interested parties. With a dedicated platform for the luxury sector, new, improved and⁄or shorter domain names will be sought by participants; thereby contributing to competition in the current space by offering consumers more choice and registrants more marketable domains.

As the public increasingly accepts new gTLDs, the Registry envisions registrants will seek out TLDs that describe their nature or activities. Accordingly, purveyors and consumers of luxury goods and services will look to the .luxury gTLD first when establishing their web presence, and will register domain names as tools to interact with consumers, liaise with colleagues, share new products and services, link to various social networks, sell merchandise, etcetera.

Differentiation: The fundamental difference between .luxury and all other gTLDs is its dedication to the luxury experience. The proposed gTLD will create a space associated exclusively with the luxury lifestyle and all of its component parts. To achieve this differentiation, beyond simply providing domain names, the Registry will, in accordance with Specification 9 of the Registry Agreement, proactively develop and maintain multiple innovative and branded websites to create and enhance industry-specific communities dedicated to this major global market and its massive, global constituent base.

Innovation: The proposed gTLD will catalyze innovation by creating an online community devoted to luxury retailers and consumers. Registrants and users may in turn take advantage of the opportunities for increased communication, access to information, visibility and commerce to develop new methods of advancing their interests. The luxury customer today is a better-educated customer; and therefore the luxury industry continues to become more complex than branded names. Within this evolving luxury marketplace, all will benefit from this vibrant and dynamic collaborative environment our Registry will offer. For example, understanding consumer priorities and trends will be evermore important in adapting luxury to a wide variety of circumstances. The searchability and aggregation of such trends will connect consumers with organizations, and help brands continue to innovate and reinvent themselves as the luxury definition evolves. In addition, as the world becomes evermore digital and connected, the social networking component of the Registry will afford brands the ability to offer its customers more exclusive levels of service. The additional data provided by .luxury registrants will allow for the following innovations:

• Optimized and customized search capability
• Community-specific premium domains that will be utilized for the benefit of all interested parties
• Targeted and more cost-effective advertising
• The ability to create and analyze community metrics
• Lay the foundation for a community-specific e-commerce platform
• Development and sale of interactive applications

These innovations will add new experiences and opportunities to the space, directly benefiting registrants and indirectly benefiting users and others.

(iii) Goals the proposed gTLD has in terms of user experience:
The Registry envisions a greatly enhanced user experience by providing resources to its constituents, including interest-specific information, communication channels, social networking, easy market specific organization, and collaborative business opportunities designed to appeal to those with luxury-based interests. The quality of the user experience will improve over time as the Registry provides these resources and participation in the .luxury TLD expands. Registrants will have the opportunity to contribute their own content to the space, thereby enhancing the scope and community nature of the gTLD. The goal of the .luxury TLD is to be the destination and home for all luxury-related online activity.
While this is not a community application, the Registry intends to create virtual communities around the various markets, experiences and products traditionally associated with luxury. Certain premium domains may be branded for consistency of user experience and quality of content in a unique portal.

Moreover, ARI, the gTLD’s registry service provider, will ensure that all pertinent services consistently meet the prescribed defined in Specification 10 of the Registry Agreement, helping to ensure the user experience is satisfactory. In addition, ARI will comply with any other applicable ICANN policy or procedure, thereby helping to ensure the user experience provided is both secure and stable. Strategic partner Melbourne IT will ensure a top quality consumer interface and policy compliance.

(iv) Description of the intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above:
The Registry may reach out to vendors of luxury products and services around the globe, as well as use community-building platforms to generate publicity for the proposed gTLD, and will welcome all registrants seeking a “.luxury” domain. Following a Sunrise and Landrush period, the Registry intends to make domains available to anyone willing to complete the Registry’s application process and comply with Registry policies and ICANN requirements. The Registry will collect limited demographic information from registrants, which will be used to streamline searches and target communications. Registration requests for available names will be allocated by the Registry through accredited registrars on a first come, first-served basis, subject to the Registry policies and ICANN requirements. The Registry will establish dispute resolution procedures concerning compliance with TLD registration policies and shall enforce such registration policies.
The Registry will seek out strategic partners to utilize premium names of significance to the community. It also plans to reserve the right to retain additional names on a reserve name list at any time at its sole discretion, in accordance with Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement, and to allocate such names in accordance with ICANN requirements and Registry polices.

(v) The proposed gTLD will impose measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users:
The Registry will protect the privacy and confidential information of registrants and users through industry standard security technology, provided by ARI and through a contractual privacy policy statement. ARI provides a comprehensive security solution – independently audited – to ensure that registrants’ privacy and confidential information is protected. These measures include registry databases that are access controlled, encrypted data escrow procedures, and a broad-ranging security policy addressing physical, cyber, and personnel security threats. Further details of these security policies are provided in response to Question 30, Security Policy. In compliance with the Registry Agreement’s Specification 4, data fields defined in the specification are made publicly available through the Registry’s Whois service offering.

User security is enhanced by the use of Domain Name System Security Extensions (“DNSSEC”) providing an important layer of overall Internet security. ARI’s DNSSEC implementations adhere to key security standards and guidelines as required by Federal Information Processing Standards (“FIPS”) 140-2 Level 3. Through ARI’s proven DNSSEC implementation, the .luxury gTLD will help to protect the privacy and confidential information of its users.

(vi) Description of whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve projected benefits:
The Registry will engage in outreach by working with purveyors of luxury products and services, high-end brands and other interested stakeholders. Reaching out to such resources will achieve projected benefits by helping to establish the Registry’s premium reputation and increase awareness around our gTLD. This outreach and education will develop the Registry’s base of registrants and direct and increase web traffic.

Beyond this, the Registry will engage in targeted advertising and outreach by working with a wide range of strategic partners to promote the Registry to all legitimately interested in any category of luxury. The enhanced visibility of geographic and category-specific domains developed by the Registry and optimized for searches will further help communicate the Registry’s commitment to its mission. Targeted advertising will benefit both registrants and advertisers by promoting awareness, competition and facilitating efficient communication. Community-building platforms may be employed to enhance the development of communities oriented towards luxury. Moreover, the opportunities for better and greater communication amongst registrants themselves will help to establish the Registry’s community reputation and develop its base.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.energydot Energy Limitedfamousfourmedia.comView
Q18b
How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit Registrants, Internet users, and others?

The Applicantʹs primary intention is to provide a favorable ecosystem for the growth and evolution of the sector. The key to achieving this aim are significant provisions for brand integrity and protection of intellectual property. The Applicant intends to push the boundaries of what can be done through innovative design of the new top level domain, including technologies that capitalize on the sectorʹs needs. A close relationship with the sectorʹs stakeholders is essential to this purpose, and will enable .energy to grow in response to both Registrant and user needs. The gTLD also contains significant opportunities as a next generation organizational scheme for online content, including provisions for abuse prevention to defend users against malicious registrations. The gTLD has been meticulously designed by a team of industry leaders from an array of different fields. This has enabled the creation of an airtight financial strategy, an inspired technological development plan as well as a close and dynamic relationship with the sector community - all critical needs on the path to the enduring success of the gTLD.

18(b)(i) What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

Specialty

The Applicant’s key specialty goal is to enable a secure and stable gTLD dedicated to providing global Internet users with a targeted space for subject matter of interest. This gTLD will serve as a home for both Registrants and end-users who feel an affinity with this sector and its associated content. Consequently they will prefer to register domain names, create and post content and seek information in a highly targeted manner.

Allowing users the ability to create a targeted, unique space within the new gTLD will enable them to customize their online offering and presence. The .energy gTLD will by itself clearly signal the nature and purpose of such websites to Internet users.

The applicant intends to actively promote gTLD specific vertical searching in the gTLD for the benefit of Registrants, end-users and other stakeholders. This specialization through Vertical Search will also benefit Internet users seeking authentic online information and products or services as they will no longer have to wade through content completely unrelated to their desired results.

As the gTLD is sector specific it will provide a better context for second level strings allowing for a much higher number of relevant and more conscise domains. This more targeted environment will simplify the user experience across multiple platforms specifically with smartphones and tablets where minimal input is favoured.


Service Levels

The goal of the gTLD Registry is to offer domain name registration services of the highest level, exceeding both ICANN requirements and current sector norms. To achieve these goals, the Applicant has contracted with well established, proven service providers offering the highest possible level of quality in Registry and Registrar services. The expertise of the service providers will ensure that the security and quality of the gTLD will be uncompromised.

The Applicant will further provide the highest level of service to trademark, legal rights owners and second-level domain owners. To achieve this goal the Applicant will be implementing a range of Abuse Prevention and Mitigation policies and procedures. The Applicant is also firmly committed to the protection of Intellectual Property rights and will implement all the mandatory Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) contained in the Applicant Guidebook. Aswell as these The Applicant will further protect the rights of others through the implementation of additional RPMs. The RSPʹs experience will ensure that the gTLD provides this high level of service to trademark and other legal rights owners to combat abusive and malicious activity within the gTLD.

The Registry will respond to abuse or malicious conduct complaints on a 24⁄7⁄365 basis, respond to requests from governmental and quasi-governmental agencies and law enforcement in a timely manner, and promptly abide by decisions and judgments of UDRP and URS panels, in accordance with ICANN consensus policies.

The Applicant will also provide fast and responsive (24⁄7⁄365) customer support to both Registrars and end-users in a number of languages to assist with general enquiries as well as complaints of abusive or malicious conduct.


Service Levels related to Registry Backend Services

The Applicant will work with Neustar Inc. (hereinafter “RSP”) whose extensive experience spans more than a decade. This will ensure delivery of the protected, trusted, and permanently-running Registry infrastructure necessary to reliably host and operate a gTLD. The Applicant will also work with its Registrars to ensure that consumers receive secure, fast, and reliable domain name registration services with a high-level of customer service.

The global DNS network that will be utilised for the resolution of domains in this gTLD has already been operating for over 10 years. It currently delivers DNS resolution for several TLD customers and provides low latency query responses with a 100% DNS uptime service level agreement.

The Applicant will further leverage the RSP’s existing DNSSEC infrastructure, capabilities, and experience to provide a robust and standards compliant implementation that ensures DNSSEC services are always available as part of the DNS.

The Shared Registry System (“SRS”) to be used for the Applicantʹs gTLD is a production-proven, standards-based, highly reliable and high-performance domain name registration and management system that has been designed to operate at the highest performance levels. The Applicantʹs RSP has been able to meet or exceed their SLA requirements nearly every month since itʹs inception. Their Registry has achieved a 99.997% success rate in meeting SLAs since 2004.

The Applicantʹs RSP has extensive experience providing ICANN and RFC-compliant WHOIS services for each of the gTLDs that it operates as a Registry Operator for both gTLDs and ccTLDs. The RSPʹs thick WHOIS solution is production proven, highly flexible, and scalable with a track record of 100% availability over the past 10 years.

The Applicant will comply with all the data escrow requirements documented in the Registry Data Escrow (“RyDE”) Specification of the Registry Agreement and has a contract in place with Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management, Inc. (“IM”) for RyDE Services. The Applicant and its RSP will in conjunction with Iron Mountain work to ensure that the escrow deposit process is compliant 100% of the time.


Reputation

The Applicant will ensure that the Registry enjoys an excellent reputation through its core focus on creating a secure, sustainable, and specialized gTLD, thus supporting ICANN’s primary goals for the new gTLD program in promoting consumer trust, consumer choice, competition and innovation.

The Applicant will strive to become a reputable and successful new gTLD by providing secure, fast and reliable customer service throughout the registration life cycle of all domains in the gTLD.

The Applicant will endeavour to ensure that only non-fraudulent Registrants have domain names in the gTLD via a WHOIS that is searchable, thick and reliable and by being highly responsive to complaints from legal rights owners. The Applicant will further implement an industry leading range of Abuse Prevention and Mitigation policies and procedures as well as RPMs.

The Applicant will provide the financial and operational stability to protect Registrants and ensure the reputation of the Registry. The Applicant has estimated the maximum costs of the critical functions for a three year period by taking the largest single year cost estimate (year 5) and multiplying this by 3. If the calculation used a lower figure the costs estimate would not be at the potential highest amount during the 5 years and the COI instrument would be too small in order to fund the costs of the 5 critical functions for at least 3 years.

The Applicant has decided to commit to providing the highest level of protection to Registrants and Stakeholders by providing ICANN with a COI for the maximum amount as recommended by ICANN in its COI Guidance. This ensures the Registry is reputable, remains conservative and mirrors ICANN’s core objectives. In a worst case scenario where the Applicant will not receive any revenue Registrants will be protected not only by the COI, but also by the fact that the Applicant has enough capital to operate for over 3 years.

Question 18(b)(ii) What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

It is expected that .energy will provide significant competition for existing and forthcoming gTLDs. The .energy gTLD will provide a blank canvas of second level domains that will inevitably lead to increased consumer choice and significant innovation from the sector. It will allow Registrants to seek new and varied ways to separate themselves from the competition.

Competition

The Applicant will enhance competition by allowing new Registrants to create new online products and services serving the global marketplace and connecting geographically diverse Registrants and users with a common affinity for the specialized subject matter exemplified by the new gTLD. The new gTLD process and its resulting gTLDs are likely to incentivize top-level domains to improve the security and quality of their online products and services as well as introducing new ones. Thus, this gTLD will benefit consumers by increasing the likelihood of new innovative online products and services.The addition of a new gTLD such as .energy will also increase competition between existing registries.

The Applicant will promote competition to the benefit of the Registrants by amongst other things:

- Building a healthy growth trend of domain registrations to validate the specialty space
- Promote the migration of sector relevant content from other TLDs
- Maintaining competitive pricing of domains

Differentiation

Currently, there is no gTLD available on the Internet that signifies the specialized products, services, and subject matter encompassed by this gTLD. The gTLD string itself will give a clear indication to website visitors that the site has content relevant to the sector. This will result in the gTLD becoming globally recognizable and viewed as a trusted source of goods, services and information.

Innovation

The gTLD will demonstrate innovation through cutting edge RPMs.

Firstly the Applicant considers the Protection of Intergovernmental Organization (ʺIGOʺ) names to be very important. The Applicant will use strings registered as second level domains in the .int gTLD as the basis for this protection. To register in the .int domain, the Registrants must be an IGO that meets the requirements found in RFC 1591. The Applicant will reserve these strings and only allow for their future release if an IGO on the “reserve list” wishes to make use of the protected string in the gTLD and provides the Applicant with sufficient documentation.


Finally if a Registrant during sunrise and landrush applies to register a domain name identical to a capital city name of a country or territory listed in the ISO 3166-1 standard it will receive a Capital City Claims (“CCC”) notification stating this. Subsequently they will have to reply unconditionally agreeing to comply with requirements to protect the reputation of the capital city and any further terms.

These functions will enhance Internet stability, security and will demonstrate to Registrars, Registrants, and end-users of the Registry that abusive or malicious conduct will not be tolerated. They will further contribute significantly to the integrity of the gTLD enabling an environment where stakeholders can innovate with confidence.

Question 18(b)(iii) What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

The Applicant’s goals for the new gTLD are to provide a trusted, secure, and user friendly environment whereby domain names and content relating to its specific affinity group can flourish.

The Applicant believes that the success of the gTLD will be determined by the sector’s key stakeholders globally. The Applicant believes that stakeholders should have the opportunity to influence the gTLD and the way it is governed. Accordingly, the Applicant is establishing a Governance Council (“GC”), to serve as an advisory body.

.energy will be developed with consumer trust, choice and satisfaction in mind and after the initial 2 years, the Applicant will conduct a survey to analyse the gTLDʹs success in these areas to help further improve the user experience.

To ensure a high level of service the Applicant will further measure:

- Service Availability Targets for the Critical Registry Functions
- The number of abuse incidents and takedowns
- ICANN Compliance
- Rights protection incidents (i.e. UDRP and URS)
- WHOIS data accuracy

The Applicant intends to promote consumer choice by providing the following:

- Highly available and geographically diverse Registrar distribution channel;
- Effective sunrise and trademark services.

Question 18(b)(iv) Provide a complete description of the applicantʹs intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

Registration Policies

The purpose and goal of the Applicant’s policies are to ensure competition, fairness, trust and reliability for Registrars, Registrants, the user community, and other stake holders, while maintaining security and stability for the gTLD.

General Policy

Aside from certain start-up mechanisms, all domain names will generally be registered on a first-come, first-served basis. A Trademark Claims service will be offered for the first 90 days of general registration, with the intent of providing clear notice to potential Registrants of the existing rights of trademark owners with registered trademarks in the Trademark Clearinghouse.

Registration Policies

As per ICANN’s requirements, the Applicant will be operating both a Sunrise and Landrush period ahead of general availability for the gTLD.

Governance Council

The Applicant is establishing a the GC, to be comprised of key sector stakeholders that will serve as an advisory body. Each GC will elect its own Board of Directors, which will be responsible for self-governance, the recommendation of sector-specific registration policies,the formulation of guidance on intellectual property and other best practices related to the gTLD.


The Applicant aims to develop an Abuse Prevention and Mitigation Working Group in conjunction with the GC. It will give the Applicant’s team advice on abuse preventions and mitigation and how this may effect registration policies. The group will meet to regularly discuss the latest trends in domain name abuse and the most effective way to prevent and remedy them.

Question 18(b)(v) Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of Registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.

Data and Privacy Policies

The Applicant shall comply with all the Data, WHOIS, and Privacy requirements in the Applicant Guidebook required by ICANN. The Applicant will take all possible steps to maintain the security and privacy of information or data that it may collect in connection with the planned function and usage of names domains, and will remain in compliance with all confidentiality and security regulations in relevant jurisdictions. This data will be held by the Applicant in accordance with the Registry Agreement that the Applicant will execute with ICANN.

The Applicant has further ensured that its suppliers also understand that keeping information secure and private is of crucial importance and will take all available steps to maintain the security and privacy of information collected from the Applicants in the Sunrise, Landrush and General Availability Phases.

Question 18(b) Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

The Applicant plans on making the gTLD the premier gTLD where individuals and organizations can register, build and maintain websites relating to their specific interest area. Thus, communication with the public and development of an outreach campaign are important goals in connection with the gTLD.

During the gTLD evaluation process, the Applicant plans to conduct a two-to-three month communications campaign aimed at reaching sector stakeholders and informing them of the gTLD’s mission and the opportunity to participate in the GC. The communication outreach will include email communications to hundreds of leading sector organizations. It will also be accompanied by the launch of a website for communicating information about the gTLD and allowing interested members of the related sector to express interest in serving on the GC. Other communications efforts, including but not limited to, press releases and social media campaigns may all be initiated to raise further awareness regarding the gTLD.

Shortly after completing the evaluation process and being awarded the gTLD, the Applicant will institute marketing and outreach efforts to inform the public about the new gTLD, its launch schedule, and its intended affinity group. The Applicant will use different outreach and communications methods and venues to get the new gTLD mission and message out to the public, including but not limited to the following: online and print press releases, communications with various media outlets, domain name sector groups, mobile apps and various social media platforms. The GC will be used as a further means of outreach and communication to the Internet community.
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