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29 Rights Protection Mechanisms

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.网址HU YI GLOBAL INFORMATION RESOURCES (HOLDING) COMPANY. HONGKONG LIMITEDHUYI.CNView
Rights Protection Mechanisms:

Abusive use policies, takedown procedures, registrant pre-verification, authentication procedures

As described on Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement, “Registry Operator shall implement and adhere to any rights protection mechanisms (“RPMs”) that may be mandated from time to time by ICANN”.

As a TLD aiming at promoting its usage around the world, the Applicant will implement a proper Rights Protection Mechanism (RPM) to safeguard trade mark, geographic names and other naming rights based on the RPMs mandated by the Registry Agreement. The implemented RPM includes a registration prevention mechanism, anti-abuse mechanism and dispute resolution mechanism. The Applicant believes that along with reinforced anti-abuse mechanisms deployed as in answer to Question 28, the RPM shall effectively protect the legal right holders and mitigate the infringement or encroachment on it.
29.1. Reserved name list
Pursuant to the Specification 5 of Registry Agreement, except to the extent that ICANN otherwise expressly authorizes in writing, Registry Operator shall reserve (i.e., Registry Operator shall not register, delegate, use or otherwise make available such labels to any third party, but may register such labels in its own name in order to withhold them from delegation or use) names formed with the following labels from initial (i.e. other than renewal) registration within the TLD:
1. Labels Reserved at All Levels: Example. The following names shall be reserved at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which Registry Operator makes registrations.
ICANN-related names:
• aso
• gnso
• icann
• internic
• ccnso
IANA-related names:
• afrinic
• apnic
• arin
• example
• gtld-servers
• iab
• iana
• iana-servers
• iesg
• ietf
• irtf
• istf
• lacnic
• latnic
• rfc-editor
• ripe
• root-servers

2. two-character labels. All two-character labels shall be initially reserved. The reservation of a two character label string may be released to the extent that Registry Operator reaches agreement with the government and country-code manager. The Registry Operator may also propose release of these reservations based on its implementation of measures to avoid confusion with the corresponding country codes.
3. Tagged Domain Names. Labels may only include hyphens in the third and fourth position if they represent valid internationalized domain names in their ASCII encoding (for example ʺxn--ndk061nʺ).
4. Second-Level Reservations for Registry Operations. The following names are reserved for use in connection with the operation of the registry for the TLD. Registry Operator may use them, but upon conclusion of Registry Operatorʹs designation as operator of the registry for the TLD they shall be transferred as specified by ICANN: NIC, WWW, IRIS and WHOIS.
5. Country and Territory Names. The country and territory names contained in the following internationally recognized lists shall be initially reserved at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry Operator provides for registrations:
5.1. the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union
〈http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-
1_decoding_table.htm#EU〉;
5.2. the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and
5.3. the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names;
5.4. Reserved list of the names of countries and regions subdivisions
In addition to the reserved Country and Territory names, registry operator shall reserve the names of countries and regions subdivisions which are listed in ISO 3166-2⁄3 table. The national geographic names in China where the registry is operating will also be included in the reserve name list:
1) the abbreviation of the countries and regional subdivision names(in both Chinese and English) which listed in ISO 3166-2⁄3, and the abbreviation of the countries and regional subdivision names (in both Chinese and English) which listed in ISO 3166-3;
2) the full names and abbreviations (in both Chinese and English) of Chinese provinces and municipalities under direct jurisdiction of the central government, and the unofficial abbreviations of geographical names
3) the full names and abbreviations of municipal administrative regions in China’s provinces

Provided, that the reservation of specific country and territory names may be released to the extent that Registry Operator reaches agreement with the applicable government(s), provided, further, that NEW GTLD AGREEMENT SPECIFICATIONS Registry Operator may also propose release of these reservations, subject to review by ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee and approval by ICANN.
29.2 Registrant pre-verification and Authentication
As mentioned in answer to Question 18, the Registrant must consent to the clause on Relevancy requirement in the Registration Agreement, and ensures each registrant attests to having, or has plans to have, a website presence on the Internet.. The registration application has to be verified by the registrars and will be checked at random by the Registry Operator on a yearly basis.

The Registration Agreement states that the registrant “represent, warrant, and agree that you hold the necessary rights to use or permit to use any item, word, or term submitted through the Domain Name Registration Services, and that such use shall not in any way to the best of your knowledge and belief:
(i) violate or potentially violate any right of any third party, including infringement or misappropriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary right;
(ii) Constitute or potentially constitute violations, such as, without limitation, false advertisement, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy, invasion of rights, and discrimination;
(iii) Cause or potentially cause a business dispute, personal dispute, or any other dispute;
(iv) Be or potentially be unlawful, harmful, fraudulent, libelous, slanderous, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, or otherwise offensive;
(v) Be or potentially be racially, ethnically, or ethically objectionable; or
(vi) Constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable law, including local, provincial, state, national, international, or other laws. ”

29.1.2. Registrant WHOIS verification
The accredited Registrar of “.网址” TLD is required to perform WHOIS verification of the registrant. Details of the WHOIS verification mechanism can be found in answer to Question 28. Any breach on the abovementioned principles will result in the annulment of the registration. Any Registrar who violates the above stipulation will also be subject to penalties or even be disaccredited.

The Applicant performs a random auditing on the registered domain names within five-day Grace Period. Any detection on Rights violation will result in rejection of the registration of the domain name.

29.3. Start-up rights protection measures

As required in Applicant Guidebook, the Applicant will implement 2 start-up rights protection mechanisms: the Sunrise period and a Trademark Claims service.

Sunrise Service: Although the Applicant plans to reserve or block any names in the TMCH, the Applicant will implement a 60-day Sunrise service period for eligible trademark holders to register or reserve its names at the second-level of the “.网址” TLD at the pre-launch period. However, the Applicant also reserves the right to deny any trademark name registration request at its sole discretion.

Proposed Sunrise Registration Process
I) For the Sunrise service, Sunrise eligibility requirements (SERs) will be set as minimum requirements, to be verified by Clearinghouse data, and supported by implementing a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP).

If someone is seeking a Sunrise registration, the Registry Operator will provide a notice to holders of marks in the Clearinghouse that are an Identical Match to the name to be registered.

Sunrise eligibility requirements (SERs)
The proposed SERs include: (i) ownership of a mark (that satisfies the criteria in section 7.2 of TRADEMARK CLEARINGHOUSE in gTLD application Guidebook), (ii) optional registry elected requirements re: international class of goods or services covered by registration; (iii) representation that all provided information is true and correct; and (iv) provision of data sufficient to document rights in the trademark.

Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP)
The proposed SDRP must allow challenges based on at least the following four grounds: (i) at time the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant did not hold a trademark registration of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; (ii) the domain name is not identical to the mark on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration; (iii) the trademark registration on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration is not of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; or (iv) the trademark registration on which the domain name registrant based its Sunrise registration did not issue on or before the effective date of the Registry Agreement and was not applied for on or before ICANN announced the applications received.

Trademark Claims service: although it is highly unlikely that the Trademark names will be easily registered due to the stringent qualification requirement by the Applicant, the Applicants still would like commit itself to offering the Trademark Claims service at the initial open registration phase for 60 days.

Proposed Trademark Claims service

i) At the first 60-day Trademark Claims Service, The registry operator will send a Trademark Claims Notice (as described in the attachment of the Trademark Clearinghouse) to the prospective registrant, with a link to the Trademark Clearinghouse Database.
ii) The prospective registrant is encouraged to access the Trademark Clearinghouse Database to check the trademark rights.
iii) If the domain name is registered in the Clearinghouse, the registrar (again through an interface with the Clearinghouse) will promptly notify the mark holders(s) of the registration after it is effectuated;
iv) in the meantime, The Registry Operator will be reported by The Trademark Clearinghouse Database when registrants are attempting to register a domain name that is considered to contain the element of a trademark.

29.4. Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
If any institution or individual raises a dispute over any registered domain names, then such dispute will be settled via Uniform Dispute Resolution Procedure (UDRP) by the dispute resolution body either authorized by the Applicant or other Dispute resolution service provider accredited by ICANN.

Pursuant to the Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement, the Applicant will comply with the following dispute resolution mechanisms as they may be revised from time to time:
a. the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (Trademark PDDRP) and the Registry Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) adopted by ICANN. the Applicant agrees to implement and adhere to any remedies ICANN imposes (which may include any reasonable remedy, including for the avoidance of doubt, the termination of the Registry Agreement pursuant to Section 4.3(e) of the Registry Agreement) following a determination by any PDDRP or RRDRP panel and to be bound by any such determination; and
b. the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (“URS”) adopted by ICANN, including the implementation of determinations issued by URS examiners.

Furthermore, In the event of dispute among rights holders, the Applicant shall implement the following rules before applying the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Of course, the parties involved in the dispute can also take the dispute to court should they be dissatisfied with the arbitration result. The Applicant shall observe any court order resulting from the dispute.

29.5. Resourcing Plan

Given the resource plans placed in the Abuse Prevention and Mitigation plan in answer to Question 28, it is advised that the legal counsel that is in charge of the abuse complaints will be sufficient to carry out the Right Protection Mechanisms described in this section.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.中信CITIC Group Corporationymail.comView
29. Rights Protection Mechanisms:

Abusive use policies, takedown procedures, registrant pre-verification, authentication procedures

As described on Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement, “Registry Operator shall implement and adhere to any rights protection mechanisms (“RPMs”) that may be mandated from time to time by ICANN”.

As a TLD aiming at protecting and promoting the brand of CITIC Group Corporation online, the Applicant will implement a proper Right Protection Mechanism (RPM) to safeguard trade mark, geographic names and other naming rights based on the RPMs mandated by the Registry Agreement. The implemented RPM includes registration prevention mechanism, anti-abuse mechanism and dispute resolution mechanism. The Applicant reckons that along with reinforced anti-abuse mechanisms deployed as in answer to Question 28, the RPM shall effectively protect the legal right holders and mitigate the infringement or encroachment on it.

29.1. Reserved name list
Pursuant to the Specification 5 of Registry Agreement, except to the extent that ICANN otherwise expressly authorizes in writing, Registry Operator shall reserve (i.e., Registry Operator shall not register, delegate, use or otherwise make available such labels to any third party, but may register such labels in its own name in order to withhold them from delegation or use) names formed with the following labels from initial (i.e. other than renewal) registration within the TLD:
1. Labels Reserved at All Levels. The following names shall be reserved at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which Registry Operator makes registrations.
ICANN-related names:
• aso
• gnso
• icann
• internic
• ccnso
IANA-related names:
• afrinic
• apnic
• arin
• example
• gtld-servers
• iab
• iana
• iana-servers
• iesg
• ietf
• irtf
• istf
• lacnic
• latnic
• rfc-editor
• ripe
• root-servers
2. two-character labels. All two-character labels shall be initially reserved.
3. Tagged Domain Names. Labels may only include hyphens in the third and fourth position if they represent valid internationalized domain names in their ASCII encoding (for example ʺxn--ndk061nʺ).
4. Second-Level Reservations for Registry Operations. The following names are reserved for use in connection with the operation of the registry for the TLD. Registry Operator may use them, but upon conclusion of Registry Operatorʹs designation as operator of the registry for the TLD they shall be transferred as specified by ICANN: NIC, WWW, IRIS and WHOIS.
5. Country and Territory Names. The country and territory names contained in the following internationally recognized lists shall be initially reserved at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry Operator provides for registrations:
5.1. the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union
〈http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-
1_decoding_table.htm#EU〉;
5.2. the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and
5.3. the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names;
5.4. Reserved list of the names of countries and regions subdivisions
In addition to the reserved country and territory names, .中信 registry operator shall reserve the names of countries and regions subdivisions which are listed in ISO 3166-2⁄3 table. The national geographic names in China where the registry is operating will also be included in the reserve name list:
1) the abbreviation of the countries and regional subdivision names(in both Chinese and English) which listed in ISO 3166-2⁄3, and the abbreviation of the countries and regional subdivision names (in both Chinese and English) which listed in ISO 3166-3;
2) the full names and abbreviations (in both Chinese and English) of Chinese provinces and municipalities under direct jurisdiction of the central government, and the unofficial abbreviations of geographical names
3) the full names and abbreviations of municipal administrative regions in China’s provinces.
Provided, that the reservation of specific country and territory names may be released to the extent that Registry Operator reaches agreement with the applicable government(s), provided, further, that Registry Operator may also propose release of these reservations, subject to review by ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee and approval by ICANN.

6. Full names and official abbreviations of international inter-governmental organizations;
7. Names of PRC national institutions;
8. The proper names of CITIC Group Corporationʹs leaders, trademarks, institutions, as well as the products and services.
29.2 Registrant pre-verification and Authentication
As mentioned in answer to Question 18, the Applicant has set a restrictive qualification requirement for .中信 domain names. The registration application has to be audited by the registrars and should be audited by the Registry Operator before the domain name is activated and properly provisioned.

The Registration Agreement states that the registrant “represent, warrant, and agree that you hold the necessary rights to use or permit to use any item, word, or term submitted through the Domain Name Registration Services, and that such use shall not in any way to the best of your knowledge and belief:
(i) violate or potentially violate any right of any third party, including infringement or misappropriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary right;
(ii) Constitute or potentially constitute violations, such as, without limitation, false advertisement, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy, invasion of rights, and discrimination;
(iii) Cause or potentially cause a business dispute, personal dispute, or any other dispute;
(iv) Be or potentially be unlawful, harmful, fraudulent, libelous, slanderous, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, or otherwise offensive;
(v) Be or potentially be racially, ethnically, or ethically objectionable; or
(vi) Constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable law, including local, provincial, state, national, international, or other laws. ”

29.2.1. Registrant pre-verification
The accredited Registrar of .中信 TLD must perform a pre-audit process on each domain name registration applications, requesting the registrant to submit the documentary evidence to verify that its applied domain name is approved by CITIC Group Corporation. Registrars are also required to perform WHOIS verification of the registrant. Details of the WHOIS verification mechanism can be found in answer to Question 28. Any breach on the abovementioned principles will result in the annulment of the registration. Any Registrar who violates the above stipulation will also be subject to penalties or even be disaccredited.

The Applicant performs a random auditing on the registered domain names within five-day Grace Period. Any detection on Rights violation will result in rejection of the registration of the domain name.

29.3. Start-up rights protection measures

As required in Applicant Guidebook, the Applicant will implement 2 start-up right protection mechanisms: the Sunrise period and a Trademark Claims service.

Sunrise Service: although the Applicant would like to reserve or block any names in the TMCH, the Applicant will implement a 60-day Sunrise service period for eligible trademark holders to register or reserve its names at the second-level of the .中信 TLD at the pre-launch period. However, the Applicant also reserve the right to deny any trademark name registration request at its sole discretion.

Proposed Sunrise Registration Process
I) For a Sunrise service, Sunrise eligibility requirements (SERs) will be met as a minimum requirement, verified by Clearinghouse data, and incorporate a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP).

If someone is seeking a sunrise registration, the Registry Operator will provide a notice to the holder of the trademark in the Clearinghouse that is an Identical Match to the name to be registered.

Sunrise eligibility requirements (SERs)
The proposed SERs include: (i) ownership of a mark (that satisfies the criteria in section 7.2 of TRADEMARK CLEARINGHOUSE in gTLD application Guidebook), (ii) optional registry elected requirements re: international class of goods or services covered by registration; (iii) representation that all provided information is true and correct; and (iv) provision of data sufficient to document rights in the trademark.

Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP)
The proposed SDRP must allow challenges based on at least the following four grounds: (i) at time the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant did not hold a trademark registration of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; (ii) the domain name is not identical to the mark on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration; (iii) the trademark registration on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration is not of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; or (iv) the trademark registration on which the domain name registrant based its Sunrise registration did not issue on or before the effective date of the Registry Agreement and was not applied for on or before ICANN announced the applications received.
Trademark Claims service: although it is highly unlikely that the Trademark names will be easily registered due to the stringent qualification requirement by the Applicant, the Applicants still would like commit itself to offering the Trademark Claims service at the initial open registration phase for 60 days.

Proposed Trademark Claims service

i) At the first 60-day Trademark Claims Service, The registry operator will send a Trademark Claims Notice (as described in the attachment of the Trademark Clearinghouse) to the prospective registrant, with a link to the Trademark Clearinghouse Database.
ii) The prospective registrant is suggested to access the Trademark Clearinghouse Database to check the trademark right.
iii) If the domain name is registered in the Clearinghouse, the registrar (again through an interface with the Clearinghouse) will promptly notify the mark holders(s) of the registration after it is effectuated;
iv) in the meantime, The Registry Operator will be reported by The Trademark Clearinghouse Database when registrants are attempting to register a domain name that is considered to contain the element of a trademark.

29.4 Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
If any institution or individual raises a dispute over any registered domain names, then such dispute will be settled via Uniform Dispute Resolution Procedure (UDRP) by the dispute resolution body either authorized by the Applicant or other Dispute resolution service provider accredited by ICANN.

Pursuant to the Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement, the Applicant will comply with the following dispute resolution mechanisms as they may be revised from time to time:
a. the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (Trademark PDDRP) and the Registry Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) adopted by ICANN. the Applicant agrees to implement and adhere to any remedies ICANN imposes (which may include any reasonable remedy, including for the avoidance of doubt, the termination of the Registry Agreement pursuant to Section 4.3(e) of the Registry Agreement) following a determination by any PDDRP or RRDRP panel and to be bound by any such determination; and
b. the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (“URS”) adopted by ICANN, including the implementation of determinations issued by URS examiners.

Furthermore, In the event of dispute among right holders, the Applicant shall implement the following rules before applying the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Of course, the parties involved in the dispute can also take the dispute to court should they are dissatisfied with the arbitration result. The Applicant shall observe any court order on the dispute.

29.5 Resourcing Plan

Given the resource plans placed in the Abuse Prevention and Mitigation plan in answer to Question 28, it is advised that the legal counsel that is in charge of the abuse complaints will be sufficient to carry out the Right Protection Mechanisms described in this section.