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18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.BASEBALLMLB Advanced Media DH, LLCfairwindspartners.comView
18.1 Mission and Purpose of .BASEBALL

Major League Baseball (“MLB”) is the oldest professional sports league in the United States and consists of 30 member clubs in the United States and Canada (the “MLB Clubs”) representing the highest level of professional baseball.

MLB Advanced Media DH, LLC (“MLBAM DH”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (“MLBAM”). MLBAM, which is indirectly owned by the MLB Clubs, is the Internet and interactive media company of MLB. MLBAM is the exclusive Internet and interactive media licensee of the MLB Clubs, which are entities that comprise MLB, as well as related entities including, but not limited to, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., Major League Baseball Enterprises, Inc., and Major League Baseball International (collectively, the “MLB Entities”).

Through MLBAM, MLB has developed a highly successful, diverse, and innovative Internet and interactive media business. For over a decade, MLBAM has managed the Official Site of MLB, the official site of each MLB Club, and numerous additional related sites, to create the most comprehensive and popular MLB resource on the Internet. MLBAM offers many features via the Internet and interactive media, including up-to-the-moment game statistics and summaries, extensive historical information, online ticket sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live and archived radio broadcasts of games, live and archived video webcasts of games, and pitch-by-pitch enactment of games.

Further, through MLBAM, MLB is a widely recognized innovator in the area of Internet content distribution. MLB.com’s first live game webcast occurred in 2002, an innovation to better serve baseball fans in the pioneering tradition of the first radio broadcast of a baseball game in 1921 and the first television broadcast in 1939. Today, MLBAM’s MLB.TV live video subscription service is the most successful and comprehensive of its kind, distributing thousands of baseball games each season to a global audience of baseball fans on personal computers and wireless devices. MLBAM’s At Bat apps for wireless devices have consistently been among the most popular and highest grossing of their kind.

MLB is synonymous with the highest level of professional baseball globally. Indeed, MLB is often referred to in common parlance as “Baseball” for many reasons, including MLB’s long and rich history, its tremendous popularity for over a century and efforts popularize baseball on an international scale. MLB’s International popularity is demonstrated by the fact that game telecasts are distributed worldwide via the Internet, and internationally to over 200 countries via television.

MLB has supported numerous baseball leagues and organizations throughout the world, and is also instrumental in the grassroots global development of baseball.

The mission and purpose of the .BASEBALL gTLD is (1) to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for baseball fans, and Internet users in general; (2) to protect MLB’s online presence, identity, brand, and intellectual property and related rights; (3) to offer a platform through which to provide a single-source identifying function for baseball-related information, content, goods, and services; and potentially advance other objectives including the following: expanding baseball-related online advertising, marketing, and promotional efforts; providing a new secure channel for the online sale and distribution of baseball-related information, content, products, and services; and potentially offering a new platform through which legitimate baseball organizations can distribute and exchange baseball-related information, content, products, and services.

MLBAM is analyzing potential use case options for the type of domain names that will be permitted for registration, as well as the potential universe of .BASEBALL registrants. In undertaking this research, MLB and MLBAM are leveraging their extensive knowledge, experience and relationships with commercial and charitable entities.

MLBAM DH currently envisions a three-stage rollout for the .BASEBALL gTLD:

1. Stage 1
The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve MLBAM DH registering a limited number of .BASEBALL second-level domain names. This initial use will provide MLBAM DH’s information technology and security personnel the opportunity to conduct tests to ensure seamless and secure access using the .BASEBALL gTLD domain names.

2. Stage 2
Once all testing has been successfully completed, MLBAM DH will begin allocating domain names for use by MLBAM, on its own behalf, and on behalf of the MLB Entities. It is in Stage 2 that MLBAM DH will evaluate expanding the operations of the gTLD to permit registration by other third-party registrants. Should this assessment lead to a decision to extend registration rights, this expansion is currently planned to take place during Stage 3.

3. Stage 3
In Stage 3, MLBAM DH will evaluate a potential expansion of the registration and use of the .BASEBALL domain names by third parties with a separate, qualifying commercial or charitable agreement with an MLB Entity, such as, but not limited, to media rights holders, licensees, sponsors, strategic partners, sanctioned charities (“Qualified Entities”). Additionally, MLBAM DH will also evaluate whether to allow registration by third parties that have established themselves as a legitimate baseball entity (“Qualified Third Parties”). It is the current intention that MLBAM DH would require any class of future potential registrants to be in compliance with and legally bound by qualifying criteria. Any decision to expand the gTLD, would likely be predicated by a MLBAM DH analysis of the market for new gTLD registrations and consumer adoption of these new Internet addresses.

MLBAM DH anticipates implementing a throttle mechanism to ensure that any future expansion is controlled and responsible. This proposed “time-out” mechanism is described in greater detail in the responses Questions 45 through 50 of this application. Such potential expansion would be subject to a proper feasibility analysis to ensure that there are no potential impacts on the security and stability of the .BASEBALL gTLD.

The potential use of the .BASEBALL gTLD by Qualified Entities or Qualified Third Parties will be determined primarily by MLBAM’s future business strategies. Using current projections based upon MLBAMʹs existing businesses, future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, MLBAM DH estimates that second-level domain name registrations will be consistent with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in the answer to Question 46 of this application.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.broadwayGoose North, LLCdonuts.coView
Q18A CHAR: 7985

ABOUT DONUTS
Donuts Inc. is the parent applicant for this and multiple other TLDs. The company intends to increase competition and consumer choice at the top level. It will operate these carefully selected TLDs safely and securely in a shared resources business model. To achieve its objectives, Donuts has recruited seasoned executive management with proven track records of excellence in the industry. In addition to this business and operational experience, the Donuts team also has contributed broadly to industry policymaking and regulation, successfully launched TLDs, built industry-leading companies from the ground up, and brought innovation, value and choice to the domain name marketplace.

DONUTS’ PLACE WITHIN ICANN’S MISSION
ICANN and the new TLD program share the following purposes:
1. to make sure that the Internet remains as safe, stable and secure as possible, while
2. helping to ensure there is a vibrant competitive marketplace to efficiently bring the benefits of the namespace to registrants and users alike.

ICANN harnesses the power of private enterprise to bring forth these public benefits. While pursuing its interests, Donuts helps ICANN accomplish its objectives by:

1. Significantly widening competition and choice in Internet identities with hundreds of new top-level domain choices;
2. Providing innovative, robust, and easy-to-use new services, names and tools for users, registrants, registrars, and registries while at the same time safeguarding the rights of others;
3. Designing, launching, and securely operating carefully selected TLDs in multiple languages and character sets; and
4. Providing a financially robust corporate umbrella under which its new TLDs will be protected and can thrive.

ABOUT DONUTS’ RESOURCES
Donuts’ financial resources are extensive. The company has raised more than US$100 million from a number of capital sources including multiple multi-billion dollar venture capital and private equity funds, a top-tier bank, and other well-capitalized investors. Should circumstances warrant, Donuts is prepared to raise additional funding from current or new investors. Donuts also has in place pre-funded, Continued Operations Instruments to protect future registrants. These resource commitments mean Donuts has the capability and intent to launch, expand and operate its TLDs in a secure manner, and to properly protect Internet users and rights-holders from potential abuse.

Donuts firmly believes a capable and skilled organization will operate multiple TLDs and benefit Internet users by:

1. Providing the operational and financial stability necessary for TLDs of all sizes, but particularly for those with smaller volume (which are more likely to succeed within a shared resources and shared services model);
2. Competing more powerfully against incumbent gTLDs; and
3. More thoroughly and uniformly executing consumer and rights holder protections.

THIS TLD
This TLD is attractive and useful to end-users as it better facilitates search, self-expression, information sharing and the provision of legitimate goods and services. Along with the other TLDs in the Donuts family, this TLD will provide Internet users with opportunities for online identities and expression that do not currently exist. In doing so, the TLD will introduce significant consumer choice and competition to the Internet namespace – the very purpose of ICANN’s new TLD program.

This TLD is a generic term and its second level names will be attractive to a variety of Internet users. Making this TLD available to a broad audience of registrants is consistent with the competition goals of the New TLD expansion program, and consistent with ICANN’s objective of maximizing Internet participation. Donuts believes in an open Internet and, accordingly, we will encourage inclusiveness in the registration policies for this TLD. In order to avoid harm to legitimate registrants, Donuts will not artificially deny access, on the basis of identity alone (without legal cause), to a TLD that represents a generic form of activity and expression.

DONUTS’ APPROACH TO PROTECTIONS
No entity, or group of entities, has exclusive rights to own or register second level names in this TLD. There are superior ways to minimize the potential abuse of second level names, and in this application Donuts will describe and commit to an extensive array of protections against abuse, including protections against the abuse of trademark rights.

We recognize some applicants seek to address harms by constraining access to the registration of second level names. However, we believe attempts to limit abuse by limiting registrant eligibility is unnecessarily restrictive and harms users by denying access to many legitimate registrants. Restrictions on second level domain eligibility would prevent law-abiding individuals and organizations from participating in a space to which they are legitimately connected, and would inhibit the sort of positive innovation we intend to see in this TLD. As detailed throughout this application, we have struck the correct balance between consumer and business safety, and open access to second level names.

By applying our array of protection mechanisms, Donuts will make this TLD a place for Internet users that is far safer than existing TLDs. Donuts will strive to operate this TLD with fewer incidences of fraud and abuse than occur in incumbent TLDs. In addition, Donuts commits to work toward a downward trend in such incidents.

OUR PROTECTIONS
Donuts has consulted with and evaluated the ideas of international law enforcement, consumer privacy advocacy organizations, intellectual property interests and other Internet industry groups to create a set of protections that far exceed those in existing TLDs, and bring to the Internet namespace nearly two dozen new rights and protection mechanisms to raise user safety and protection to a new level.

These include eight, innovative and forceful mechanisms and resources that far exceed the already powerful protections in the applicant guidebook. These are:

1. Periodic audit of WhoIs data for accuracy;
2. Remediation of inaccurate Whois data, including takedown, if warranted;
3. A new Domain Protected Marks List (DPML) product for trademark protection;
4. A new Claims Plus product for trademark protection;
5. Terms of use that prohibit illegal or abusive activity;
6. Limitations on domain proxy and privacy service;
7. Published policies and procedures that define abusive activity; and
8. Proper resourcing for all of the functions above.

They also include fourteen new measures that were developed specifically by ICANN for the new TLD process. These are:

1. Controls to ensure proper access to domain management functions;
2. 24⁄7⁄365 abuse point of contact at registry;
3. Procedures for handling complaints of illegal or abusive activity, including remediation and takedown processes;
4. Thick WhoIs;
5. Use of the Trademark Clearinghouse;
6. A Sunrise process;
7. A Trademark Claims process;
8. Adherence to the Uniform Rapid Suspension system;
9. Adherence to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy;
10. Adherence to the Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Policy;
11. Detailed security policies and procedures;
12. Strong security controls for access, threat analysis and audit;
13. Implementation DNSSEC; and
14. Measures for the prevention of orphan glue records.

DONUTS’ INTENTION FOR THIS TLD
As a senior government authority has recently said, “a successful applicant is entrusted with operating a critical piece of global Internet infrastructure.” Donuts’ plan and intent is for this TLD to serve the international community by bringing new users online through opportunities for economic growth, increased productivity, the exchange of ideas and information and greater self-expression.