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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
.BENTLEYBentley Motors Limiteddemys.comView

i. Goal

Introduction

The overall goal of the dot BENTLEY top level domain is to drive excellence by becoming the trusted, authentic resource for online communication from and with the Applicant. This is the goal for dot BENTLEY’s specialty.

The Applicant has established a global reputation for an extremely high quality product and service levels that are the very best in the motoring industry worldwide. Its brand defines Driving Luxury Performance. The Applicant believes that, as the exclusive official online resource for the Bentley brand, dot BENTLEY will swiftly develop a quality reputation derived in large part from the Applicant’s own consistently strong, authentic and dynamic status. This is the goal for dot BENTLEY’s reputation.

Building on its longstanding experience of engagement with its community of interest via the Internet, the Applicant plans to use the gTLD to take the user experience to the next level - that of a newly relevant namespace which will directly engage the Internet user. The Applicant prides itself on its responsiveness to external and internal stakeholders, whether they be customers, the media, licensees or individuals within the dealer network. The Applicant believes that its existing approach can be further enhanced by delivering relevant information to the relevant Internet user via the newly relevant namespace, thus giving rise to the best of communication. This is the goal for dot BENTLEY’s service level.


The Internet and Bentley

Bentley has engaged with the commercial Internet since 1996. Its website at the URL www.bentleymotors.com serves as a source of information for its entire community of interest.

The Applicant’s website seeks to reach out to all parties who may be interested in the Bentley brand. Accordingly, it seeks to offer information to potential buyers as well as details in which wider enthusiasts may have an interest such as clubs and associations, factory tours and official merchandise. The site offers support to owners of Heritage Bentleys and provides a retail portal for the purchase of accessories and pre-owned vehicles.

dot BENTLEY is seen by the Applicant as a natural progression in its commitment to this very real and substantial online community of over 600,000 monthly visitors. It will serve to expand the Applicant’s commitment to Driving Luxury Performance into this new namespace such that corresponding Internet traffic will be driven to sites where users will gain the full benefit of the Bentley experience, secure in the knowledge of its authentic, credible and reliable source.

The Applicant is the definitive British luxury car company; it specialises in developing, crafting and selling the most desirable of automobiles and the Bentley brand stands for such values as power, exclusivity and individuality. Bentley’s vision is to become the world’s most successful luxury car company. These aims would be underpinned by the deployment of dot BENTLEY. Via this top level domain, Bentley will build on its reputation of exemplary customer satisfaction and sustainable business success.

These reputational drivers will be reinforced at every website associated with the dot BENTLEY TLD and will create a seamless online environment.


dot BENTLEY: Driving the Brand - Driving the Traffic

At Bentley’s core is a commitment to driving excellence - at the core of dot BENTLEY will be these same values in terms of driving Internet traffic to associated web sites, delivering a luxurious and individual user journey and an online performance concomitant with the offline experience.

In providing an exclusive top level resource for the community of interest in the Bentley brand, the Applicant will establish dot BENTLEY as one of the leading facets of the post-delegation new gTLD landscape. dot BENTLEY will serve to bring relevance and indeed innovation to the namespace, aligning with ICANN’s own goals for this important online development.

The delegation of dot BENTLEY will negate the opportunity for confusion as communication from the Applicant will educate Internet users to understand that no other source can provide the levels of assurance of trust that will be found at the new TLD.

Post-Delegation activities

It is anticipated that immediately following delegation of dot BENTLEY, second level domains will be limited to modest numbers. In this way, the Applicant will afford itself the opportunity to begin the process of educating Internet users to access the brand at this new TLD. The promotion of dot BENTLEY will require to be continuous and vigorous such that the Registry will achieve its promotional goals.

The analysis of traffic to the newly established TLD will be an ongoing process which will be regularly monitored to determine the number of users that continue to access the Applicant at bentleymotors.com and those that are migrating to the new platform over time. As the education process gathers momentum and the numbers of unique hits increase, Bentley would seek to deploy greater numbers of domains at the second level for example accessories.bentley, parts.bentley, service.bentley etc.

It is difficult to establish just how long it will take to move Internet users from what is the current norm however it is anticipated that within a twelve month period there will be sufficient shift in users patterns of behaviour which will warrant an increase in the deployment of domains at the second level.

Looking further to the future, the Applicant anticipates that within 36 months of delegation all on-line communication will be accessed at dot BENTLEY and that visitors to the .com domains and other generic and country code TLDs will be redirected to the new TLD.

The Applicant will conduct regular research to quantify the results of their education process and its effectiveness in establishing dot BENTLEY in Internet users’ consciousness.


ii. Competition, Differentiation, and Innovation

Introduction

Throughout the life of the Internet there have been many innovations that have improved trust and confidence among its userbase and which have in turn led to the development of enhanced products and services; the invention of the SSL certificate to name but one. However, there has to date been no corresponding advancement in the namespace itself.

With dot BENTLEY, the Applicant proposes to provide just such an innovation, namely an official brand resource, as a component of the generic namespace at the top level, which will be the trusted location for communications from and with the brand owner, directed at all of the relevant communities of interest. The opportunity to provide such an innovative resource within a TLD is unprecedented.

Through a variety of second level domains of close relevance to the Bentley brand, mission, values and goals, the Applicant will in time extend its pursuit of Driving Luxury Performance further into this new namespace such that the corresponding Internet traffic will arrive at the full benefit of the Bentley experience, secure in the knowledge of its authentic, credible and reliable source.

Today, Bentley stands for “powerful, exquisite and individual”. This unique message of exclusivity will be conveyed via the trusted and powerful resource that will underpin a dedicated top level generic domain name for the brand, both to differentiate the Applicant from other luxury car manufacturers and to innovate in methods of communication with all interested parties.


Previous challenges in the existing namespace

There are multiple parties who would seek to compromise the Applicant’s brand values in the existing namespace by registering domain names that aim to confuse Internet users and indeed divert traffic away from Bentley’s bona fide on-line offering. This is evidenced by various enforcement actions (including UDRP complaints) that have been necessitated by malicious activity of this nature. By establishing a strong and reliable presence at dot BENTLEY however the Applicant will be in a position to provide ABSOLUTE reassurance to Internet users that the dot BENTLEY TLD is the source of trusted data about the brand.

Furthermore, the existing namespace has made it somewhat challenging in the past for any organization with a global dealer network to be able to ensure consistency of approach and, more importantly, presentation within domain names throughout that network. Today, most brands strive to deliver dealer consistency via contractual arrangements however with a series of open namespaces and with a large and global dealer network this becomes difficult to police. Inevitably, consumer confusion can result from dealers adopting a range of different naming approaches.

It follows therefore that the delegation of dot BENTLEY will augment the existing domain name space by removing the opportunity for vulnerability among Internet users who may be deceived by confusingly similar domains in the existing space or simply unsure as to the authenticity of the dealership network. Further, by establishing dot BENTLEY, Internet users will be able to differentiate between the bona fide on-line offering and those of questionable or even merely unauthorized third parties.


Innovation and differentiation

It is anticipated that post delegation the TLD will be deployed in a variety of visionary and innovative ways including new ways of allocating domains at the second level for use by the Bentley dealer network. These could in turn be developed for the deployment of unique and innovative applications that could be exclusive to their field.

A Bentley motor car is, in its physical being, a vehicle that differentiates its driver from the crowd. The delegation of dot BENTLEY will further serve to differentiate the Applicant from other motor manufacturers and create an exclusive on-line presence for the communities the Applicant seeks to serve and with whom it seeks to communicate.

In time to come the Applicant envisages that the namespace could be the venue for the deployment of exciting and innovative automotive technologies which will allow owners the ability to communicate with their vehicles or simply to engage more efficiently and directly with the Applicant or its dealer network. While many of these technologies have yet to progress beyond the level of research and development it is inevitable that all such innovations will be enhanced by the ability to be deployed within a trusted portion of the namespace such as dot BENTLEY.

It is also noteworthy that the application is in itself an indicator of the far sightedness of the Applicant and is demonstrative of innovation. In an offline setting, the Applicant constantly seeks to innovate in its research and development programme for the production of pioneering motor vehicles. The application for dot BENTLEY is an extrapolation of that very same commitment.


iii. User Experience

In common with the themes adopted throughout this application the proposed gTLD will aim to establish a trusted presence for the Applicant at dot BENTLEY. Quite simply, dot BENTLEY will be developed to convey all that the brand stands for in the offline world to Internet users world wide.

The user experience itself will be as long as it is broad although at its core will be the key goal of relevance and authenticity of content, direct from the Bentley brand owner. Much of the individual experience will depend upon the stakeholder, whether they be internal or external, and whether they be customer, dealer, media or licensee.

The Applicant has historically been an innovative user of the present namespace to enhance relevance of content for its Internet users. The volume of relevant third level subdomains in the Applicant’s core domain, from continentalgt.bentleymotors.com to supersports.bentleymotors.com which point to specific content (and indeed which fulfil distinct yet consistent user experiences) bears witness. Such use of the existing namespace is true of relatively few brand owners. The Applicant intends to build on its innovations in the existing namespace by developing similar and extended relevant resources in the second level of dot BENTLEY.

dot BENTLEY will provide the Applicant with the eventual capability to personalise the user experience in line with the “Individual - ‘made for me’” aspect of its brand essence and values. This will give rise to a highly relevant user experience, compared to doing so via a third level domain within an existing open gTLD such as .com. While however this is the ultimate goal for the domain, the Applicant proposes a gentle migration to this new space so as to minimise the potential for confusion. Accordingly, while the Applicant looks forward to the ultimate goal, the initial user experience for dot BENTLEY can be expected to be closer to that of the Applicant’s existing online presence which, in itself, provides a powerful experience commensurate with Bentley brand values.


iv. Registration Policies

The Applicant proposes the dot BENTLEY Registry Domain Management Policy (DMP) designed to ensure 100% compliance with establishing a trusted presence on the Internet.

1. Eligibility

Only Bentley Motors Limited will be eligible to register second level domains at dot BENTLEY. Thus the only registrant of any given second level domain within the TLD will be the Applicant. In this manner, the Applicant’s goals of authenticity, credibility and reliability together with the assurances it proposes to its community of interest, all as mentioned throughout this application, may be assured. Furthermore, only proposals for registration containing an appropriate statement as to the business need for the domain name and emanating from or sponsored by personnel within the Applicant and its group of companies will be entitled to proceed to authorization.

2. Authorization

The Applicant will establish a Naming Committee which will authorize second level names to be registered. This group will comprise senior members of the Applicant’s personnel. Initially, they will meet on a weekly basis (depending on the number of applications for second level domains) and thereafter at regular intervals. The opportunity to conduct interim ad hoc meetings will be provided should the need arise. The Naming Committee will consider all applications from within the group to add domains at the second level. This scrutiny will ensure that rogue, bogus or unofficial second level domains will not be authorised and indeed that suitable internal due diligence will be performed before new registrations are effected.

3. Scrutiny

The Naming Committee will consider each proposed domain name from the perspective of the goals established for the top level domain as outlined throughout this application. This is, in effect, merely a slightly more sophisticated version of the policy already in force within the Applicant for the scrutiny of proposed third level domains within its current core domain name, bentleymotors.com, which has today around 500 third level sub-domains each of which has been individually assessed by an authorized official point of contact within the Applicant prior to its entry in the relevant zone file. Once a proposed second level domain passes this scrutiny it will proceed to clearance as outlined below.

4. First clearance check

As part of their remit, the Naming Committee will instruct that a clearance check be carried out on all proposed second level domains with a view to minimizing the possibility of infringement of third party rights. This will be achieved via meticulous checking of various online resources (such as the relevant trademark registries). In essence, it is anticipated that this process will be no different from the typical clearance check in which the Applicant engages should it be developing a new sub-brand within the overall Bentley brand.

It should be noted that the Applicant considers that it is highly unlikely that desired second level domain names within dot BENTLEY will fail a clearance check principally because only personnel within the Applicant will be seeking the registration of such domain names. Accordingly, the prospect of intentionally abusive registrations being entered within the registry is extremely low and in fact probably nil.

5. Submission to registrar and second clearance check

Authorised domains will be thereafter be submitted by the Naming Committee, or by an official within the Applicant upon whom the requisite permission has been delegated by the Naming Committee, for registration via an ICANN Accredited Registrar. In light of the eligibility requirements, the Registrar will only be entitled to take registration instructions from the Naming Committee or from a person within the Applicant having the Committee’s delegated authority. The Registrar will, either at the request of the Naming Committee or at random, undertake further checks such as a check within ICANN’s proposed Trademark Clearinghouse to ensure that the rights of third parties are not in any way compromised by the registration of specific domains.

6. Registration

Following any further checks as outlined above, the Registrar will proceed to register the desired second level domain name within the registry. The registrant of all such domain names will be the Applicant.

Clearly in addition to the DMP, and post delegation of dot BENTLEY, the Applicant will institute a Sunrise period for initial registrations, utilizing the Trademark Clearinghouse as mandated by ICANN. That said, given the eligibility rule outlined above, only the Applicant will be entitled to request that domain names be registered in dot BENTLEY and accordingly third parties will not require to protect their intellectual property in this new generic top level domain.


v. Privacy and Confidential Information

As noted at (iv), only the Applicant will be (within the policies of the Registry) eligible to register at dot BENTLEY. Accordingly, there will be no need to maintain registrant privacy as there can only be one – i.e. Bentley Motors Limited.

The Applicant is already committed to user privacy. Its current Privacy Statement may be reviewed online at its website. It is not at present anticipated that users will supply personal data in connection with dot BENTLEY however should this change (such as with possible innovations outlined in this application) Bentley will simply apply its Privacy Statement then in force to such data. With the restrictive registration policy outlined above, assuring the privacy of users should be straightforward.


Outreach and Communications

It will be vitally important for the Applicant to reach out to its community of interest. Bentley is known for its drive to create curiosity and innovation. The promotion of the new TLD will be an extension of these embedded values.

To promote dot BENTLEY, the Applicant will develop a communications programme (both on and offline) to include advertisements, posters, public relations and outreach to the dealer network. The programme will also encompass such audiences as schools and local community groups; graduate and apprentice audiences as well as the extensive base of enthusiasts.

The Applicant will seek to implement the above noted communications programme from the date of execution of the Registry Agreement. Between this time and delegation, it will work relentlessly to ensure that the launch will be abundantly anticipated and the transitional journey from .com to dot BENTLEY will have begun.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.partyBlue Sky Registry 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 .party 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 .party 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 .party will provide significant competition for existing and forthcoming gTLDs. The .party 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 .party 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.

.party 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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