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

Prototypical answer:

A new .skype registry could offer internet users a clearly identifiable signpost to the Skype product that works without national boundaries. We expect that our customers will benefit if our new gTLD helps us to deliver a more secure, reliable, and stable communications experience.

What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of speciality, service levels or reputation?
The goal of the proposed .skype gTLD is to lay the ground work for providing consumers who interact with Skype through the .skype gTLD with an increased sense of security and authenticity, to promote the Skype communications platform, and to protect the world-famous Skype brand.
We anticipate that operation of the .skype gTLD may provide us with the opportunity to personalize, extend, and leverage Microsoft and Skype technology to create new inventions and new markets.

What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space in terms of competition, differentiation or innovation?
Currently there is no .brand registry operated by the brand owner – let alone a .brand registry for a brand as valuable and famous as the Skype brand.
We want a .skype gTLD to help differentiate us from most other businesses. We anticipate that it may also complement our vision for innovation and improving communication ease and access for a billion people every day.

What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
The goals of the .skype gTLD are to lay the ground work for providing users who interact with Skype through the .skype gTLD with an increased sense of security and authenticity for their search needs, to protect the Skype brand, and to promote the Skype communications platform.
We anticipate that the opportunity to operate a .skype gTLD may provide a more secure platform from and through which we can provide more secure product offerings in the future.

Provide a complete description of the applicants intended registration policies in support of the goals above
The Microsoft Domain Name Management team is responsible for the development, maintenance and enforcement of the .skype Domain Management Policy (sDMP). This policy defines the rules associated with eligibility and domain name allocation, sets out the license terms governing the use of a .skype domain name and describes the dispute resolution policies for the .skype TLD. This policy is intended to be updated and revised regularly to reflect Microsoft’s commercial and strategic interests and, where appropriate, ICANN consensus policies. The policy is summarised below. It is subject to change.
Registration of a .skype domain name is undertaken in four steps: Eligibility Confirmation, Naming Convention Check, Acceptable Use Review, and finally Registration.
Domains in the .skype registry cannot be assigned to third parties.
All domains in the .skype registry will remain the property of Microsoft.
Checks will be undertaken to ensure that applied for character strings conform to the .skype Naming Conventions. Each applied for character string must conform to the .skype rules of eligibility. Each .skype name must:
• not be a prohibited label such as “example”
• be at least 3 characters and no more than 63 characters long
• not contain a hyphen on the 3rd and 4th position (tagged domains)
• contain only letters (a-z), numbers (0-9) and hyphens or a combination of these
• start and end with an alphanumeric character, not a hyphen
• not match any character strings reserved by ICANN
• not match any protected country or territory name identified in the internationally recognized lists set forth in Specification 5 to the New gTLD Agreement, unless Microsoft reaches agreement regarding release of such names with the applicable government or pursuant to a proposal reviewed by the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee and approved by ICANN.
Internationalized domain names (IDN) may be supported in the .skype registry at the second level.
.skype domain names must be used solely for purposes that, in Microsoft’s and Skype’s sole discretion and judgment, enhance its strategic or commercial interests.
.skype domains shall not be used to knowingly infringe, violate, or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Registrants may not delegate or assign any rights in .skype domains to any third party.
Microsoft will require that the WHOIS data for all .skype domains is accurate and complete.
At its discretion, the Domain Name Management Team may revoke the license to use a .skype domain name at any time.

Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy of confidential information of registrants or users?
Skype prides itself on the steps it takes to protect the privacy of employee and customer data.
The .skype registry will be operated by the Microsoft Corporation, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Washington; data will be processed in accordance with applicable data protection requirements. We intend to comply with the Personal Data obligations set forth in Section 2.10 of the Registry Agreement.

Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits?
We anticipate engaging in the types and scope of outreach and communications appropriate to the operation of a .brand registry in which the brand owner and its wholly owned subsidiaries are the registrants of all second-level domain names.

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