18(c) What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

Prototypical answer:

i. How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first-serve basis?

During our sunrise period, which we anticipate to begin 6 months after the signing of the registry agreement and lasting for a period of three months, we will allow those to entities with appropriate IP and Trademark claims to reserve their domain names at a higher cost. Should there be any legitimate overlap in the name sought there will be an auction, we do not anticipate this to be a common occurrence. We detail how this may happen below. We will not be holding a landrush period, given that registration of a .llc domain is dependent on verifiable LLC certification from an issuing authority for a given U.S. jurisdiction.

LLC’s are not allowed to have the same, or deceivingly similar names within the same jurisdiction. The terms of deceivingly similar are influenced on whether or not the two LLCs in question are working within the same market and acting as competitors. We at Top Level Design LLC will only delegate a .llc domain to an appropriately certified LLC entity. We recognize that two distinct LLCs may have the same name by registering in different U.S. jurisdictions; still, given that there is no public-facing, single national LLC database, we will be unable to confirm that there is no duplicate LLC across other jurisdictions with the same name as a verifiable .llc registrant. When disputes between competitive LLC names have been brought to court, these cases are generally influenced by whether the two entities are involved in the same market and if one entity has a trademark or a registered tradename associated with their LLC, We will respect any legal ruling related to LLC status and the trademark or registered tradename statuses involved therein.

Should two entities exist that both run distinct LLCs of the same name, albeit registered in different jurisdictions, we will operate on a first come first served basis. Any legal recourse that establishes name rights for a given LLC over another will be respected by Top Level Design, LLC with regard to its management of the .llc registry.

ii.) Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g. advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

We have no plans to implement any cost benefits for registrants at this time. However, we have discussed the possibility of promotions, such as advantageous pricing discounts, should they be necessitated due to currently unforeseen circumstances or become part of a targeted marketing campaign during any part of our launch and⁄or operation.

iii.) Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.

We intend to fully comply with the provisions in the Registry Agreement stating that registration being made available by our registrars for a period of one to ten years, while not exceeding ten years.

Wholesale price increases may be necessary due to inflation or other unforeseen circumstances. However, we recognize that it is important to protect registrants from unreasonable price increases, and therefore plan not to exceed the industry-precedented reasonable maximum annual wholesale price increase of 10%. As dictated by the Registry Agreement, we plan to provide ICANN and ICANN-accredited registrars 30 days written notice for price increases on initial domain name registrations, and 180 days for domain name renewals, excepting the provisions stated in Article 2, Section 10(b) and (c), which we shall follow as they are described. We plan to give written notice of at least 90 days to our registrants of such increases. We have no plans at this time to make further contractual commitments to our registrants regarding wholesale price escalation, but do intend to follow the best practices set forth by the industry and treat our registrants with respect, both financially and otherwise. We do not anticipate the need for significant price increases and are equally likely to lower the price in the future.

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