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

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.lawDotmaker Inc.radixregistry.comView
The mission of .law is to provide an exclusive and differentiated identity on the internet to entities within the legal industry.

The current set of generic top level domains (gTLDs like .com, .net, .org, .biz etc.) do not say much about the individual⁄organization that owns the name. Country code top level domains (ccTLD) could be an option, but again, all they signify is a geographical association. No top Level domain today is truly representative of the legal industry and thus the need for the .law gTLD.

Legal firms are expanding across the globe, collaborating with others across boundaries and further increasing the need for them to have an online presence that truly signifies what they do, and allows them to establish themselves in their respective space. A sneak peek reveals that the legal industry in the United States alone represents close to $230 billion in annual revenues (ZapData, Hoovers, D&B Division)(^1).

The current gTLD space within .com & .net presents very limited options. Today, close to 70% of all .com “check availability” lookups result in names not being available (Internal research). This highly restricts the names that the legal industry can use to represent themselves online, and forces them to choose sub-standard names.

The purpose of the .law TLD is thus to give the legal industry an exclusive space that they can use to establish themselves online and where they do not have to compete with other types of businesses that have no association with the same industry.

Considering the specific connotation of the word ‘law’ and the clear message that it sends out, we expect to see keen interest from the legal industry, giving them a space where they can build and brand their identity on the web as someone that is a part of the legal industry.

The legal industry has seen a change in the way that customers look for legal services & in the way that law firms approach customers. More and more businesses are going online and realizing the need for an online presence. Google keywords data shows that there are over 5 million monthly searches (As of January, 2012) performed for phrases that include the word lawyer such as “find a lawyer”, “real estate lawyer”, “immigration lawyer” etc. The searches for such phrases from the USA itself accounts for close to 3.3 million per month.

The American Lawyer (Am Law) is a leading monthly magazine for lawyers, which covers the business of the most successful law firms across the U.S. and around the world. They publish a ranking of law firms based on their financial strength. All of the Am Law 200 firms have a presence on LinkedIn while over 80 of the Am Law 100 firms are already using twitter. Online channels are becoming increasing popular for communication and information exchange in this industry.

With the progression of the legal industry towards the adoption of the internet, it is only natural to expect that the industry be provided with a TLD that truly represents them online.

Our policies will allow restricted registration access to entities within the legal industry only. We will back this policy with a well-defined Eligibility Restrictions Dispute Resolution Process (ERDRP) which allows us to rapidly take-down domain names that do not meet our eligibility criteria. It is our over-arching goal to develop .law as a clean, exclusive and high-quality name space where consumers can relate a .law website to a high-quality legal service provider.

Our mission, goals can be summarized as follows:

1.1 ENHANCE TRUST

To create a “trusted and secure” namespace for the legal industry, and the users that seek them out through this medium.

1.2 ENHANCE SEARCHABILITY AND RECOGNITION

.law benefits the Registrants as well as the end users. End users will be able to find the website of a legal service provider easily amongst the sea of countless others in unrestricted gTLDs posing or insinuating knowledge and capabilities in the legal profession without the training, knowledge and certifications inherent in legal licensing.

Entities within the legal industry will be able to easily distinguish themselves by running their web presence on a .law domain name.
The space will make them more visible, and more accessible.

1.3 ENHANCE REGISTRANT CHOICE

To create a namespace that provides legal entities greater choice to represent themselves online in a manner they please. Due to the saturation and unrestricted nature of the existing gTLD space many legal firms have to opt for a name that does not best reflect them .law will provide legitimate Registrants a higher probability of obtaining their desired name

1.4 CREATE A CLEANER INTERNET SPACE

To create a cleaner internet experience for end users by implementing pioneering registration policies, content and usage policies, and abuse mitigation processes.

1.5 CREATE A STABLE AND RESILIENT INTERNET SPACE

To deliver a stable and resilient internet experience to registrants and end-users by going above and beyond the ICANN mandated SLAs and delivering 100% resolution uptime

References:

* (^1) http:⁄⁄www.hoovers.com⁄industry⁄legal-services⁄1063-1.html

This completes our answer to Q18(a).
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.onlineBitter Frostbite, 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.