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

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.RADIOBRS MEDIA, Inc.gmail.comView
The purpose of the .RADIO gTLD is to:

Provide all those interested, worldwide, in disseminating or seeking information, whether non-commercial or commercial, issues, news, culture, lifestyle, entertainment, sports or any other topic with a convenient & recognizable domain name that associates them and⁄or their information with On Air & Online (net) Radio.

Provide all those interested, worldwide, in selling or purchasing goods or services of any kind, or providing information, with a convenient & recognizable domain name that associates them and⁄or their goods or services with Radio.

Provide a top-level domain name that provides an identifiable means of communicating with people, organizations & businesses that associate or identify with traditional (on air) & online (net) Radio.

Provide the worldwide Internet-using public with an additional choice of available domain names at competitive prices.

Having over 15 years of experience in managing, marketing & operating Industry specific top-level domains in both the .FM & .AM TLD space, we recognize & have a unique understanding of the direction & leadership necessary to guide .RADIO in accomplishing these objectives.

The mission of .RADIO is:

- The promotion of On Air & Online Radio, its issues, causes, interests, perspectives, positions, policies, supporters & admirers by making domain names ending in .RADIO available to all those who may want to use such .RADIO domain names for their own political, business, personal or other legal purposes in the United States & worldwide.

- The promotion of On Air & Online Radio by having information of any & all types & for any & all legal purposes available & disseminated from websites & email addresses ending in .RADIO for the registrants’ & users’ own purposes in the United States & worldwide.

- The promotion of On Air & Online Radio by allowing businesses, not-for-profits & individuals to associate their products, services, information & selves with Radio for their own purposes in the United States & worldwide.

- To allow people & organizations to promote their association or identification with Radio on the Internet & in emails.

- To provide an identifiable means for people, organizations & business to communicate with those who associate or identify with On Air & Online Radio.

- To increase the number of people & organizations in the United States & worldwide that publicly identify themselves via the Internet & new media with On Air & Online Radio through their use of Radio domain names & email accounts by making such .RADIO domain names affordable & readily available (subject to compliance with the rules governing .RADIO discussed elsewhere in this Application).

In keeping with our mission, we will continue to develop & market .RADIO in an unbiased & independent manner, which fosters ʺNew Innovationʺ for both traditional & online Radio. Our extensive experience managing .FM & .AM TLDs illustrates that an open & impartial outlook is important & necessary to promote growth & inspire creativity in an Industry specific top-level domain, like .Radio.

18a.1 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS & RESEARCH

SNL Kagan forecasts Net-only (Online) Radio to be a $1 Billion business in 10 years - Expects Internet-only radio operators to grow revenues at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 13.5%, from $293 million in 2011 to more than $1.0 billion by the end of 2021ʺ (Source: SNL Kagan Report - http:⁄⁄www.snl.com⁄InteractiveX⁄article.aspx?CDID=A-13509963-10801&KPLT=2)

According to Mediascope Europe: ʺ64% of Europeans across 15 markets surveyed listen to the radio in a typical week. Additionally, a quarter (25%) of all European Internet users surveyed now listen to the radio online.ʺ (Source: Mediascope Europe⁄IAB Europe http:⁄⁄www.iabeurope.eu⁄media⁄53821⁄european%20media%20landscape%20report%20summary.pdf)

According to Arbitron⁄Edison Research: ʺThe weekly online Radio audience, which includes AM⁄FM streams & Internet-only streams, has doubled every five years since 2001, now reaching an estimated 57 million teens & adults each week.ʺ (Source: Arbitron⁄Edison Research: http:⁄⁄www.edisonresearch.com⁄Infinite_Dial_2011_ExecSummary.pdf)

Audio Graphics & Borrell Associates latest survey revealed: ʺNearly 40% of respondents age 18-54 said they listen to Internet radio on a mobile device. Thatʹs up from 22% in December 2009.ʺ (Source: Audio Graphics & Borrell Associates http:⁄⁄www.audiographics.com⁄agd⁄053111-1.htm)

18a.2 DOMAIN MARKET RESEARCH

Over the past decade, the market for domain name registrations has grown at a tremendous pace. From 2000 to 2011 domain name registrations increased from 40 million to 225 million domain names registered globally. 2011 experienced a growth of approximately 9%, ending fourth quarter 2011 with approximately 225 million domain names registered globally. Approximately 60% of these are gTLDs, while the remaining 40% are comprised of ccTLDs. More specifically, gTLD growth was approximately 10% in 2011. (Source: DOMAIN NAME INDUSTRY BRIEF - VERISIGN http:⁄⁄www.verisigninc.com⁄assets⁄domain-name-brief-march2012.pdf)

Our analysis of the legacy gTLDs (.COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .INFO) & ccTLDs (.DE, .UK, .EU, .NL) zones showed the frequency of “Radio” in existing second-level domain names at 0.11%, with 0.72% frequency of “Radio” related terms (i.e. radio stations names, official call letters, slogans etc.). These “Radio” related terms & our understanding of these names are based on years of Internet-Specific domain registry experience, with .FM & .AM.

At the present Verisign Domain Name Industry Briefing (4th Q 2011) total of 225 millions domain name registrations across all Top Level Domains (TLDs), the estimated market for .RADIO is over 1.7 million. Assuming very conservative registration volumes of 0.03%, the mature market (5 to 10 years out) for .RADIO could be around 50,000 at today’s Domain Name Industry Briefing. (see dotRadio Market Analysis attached as “Q 18a DOTRADIO MARKET ANALYSIS”)

Taking into account the new opportunities available with new gTLDs, growth is expected to continue in all sections of the domain name industry. It will allow registrants to reach more targeted audiences & increase their web presence.

In ICANN’s First Annual Report (2005-2006), Message from the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Vint Cerf referred to ‘Radio’ as a once traditional distinct & separate communication modality, that “Today’s Internet” supports. “Today’s Internet supports all traditional communication modalities once considered distinct & separate – television, RADIO, telephony” Adding, “Its ability to absorb new technologies & to support an increasing variety of applications demonstrates the power of its simple, clear & well-defined technical specifications & openly accessible capabilities.” (Source: ICANN Annual Report 2005–2006: Message from the Chairman of the Board of Directors - page 8 http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄annualreport⁄annual-report-2005-2006.pdf)

At present, no direct & specific .RADIO top-level domain name exists for the people, organizations & businesses that associate themselves with On Air & Online Radio, or people, organizations & business that want to communicate with them. Registrants who want a domain name that effectively & efficiently shows an association with Radio, or registrants that want a domain name that allows them to identifiably communicate with people who associate or identify with Radio face a domain name marketplace that provides them with few, if any, options for their purposes. The .RADIO top-level domain will resolve this problem by providing registrants with an efficient, effective, prominent, instantly understood way of showing their association with the Radio, while at the same time providing competition with the existing TLDs & new gTLDs that will be approved by ICANN, thereby increasing consumer choice.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.furnitureLone Fields, 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.