gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.booking	Booking.com B.V.	markmonitor.com	View

In line with Booking.com’s mission and purpose for the .booking gTLD, it is first and foremost important for Booking.com to safeguard and protect the key element out of its BOOKING.COM trademark at the top level of the DNS’ hierarchy. Such protection does not only extend to the actual registration, delegation and use of the TLD, but also to the domain names that are registered therein, and how these domain names are used.

Considering the fact that the actual award and delegation of the .booking gTLD to Booking.com is subject to the successful evaluation of our application, we have not yet defined in detail:

* the types of domain names that will be registered;
* who will be entitled to select which domain names will be registered
* who will be entitled to register such domain names;
* who will be entitled to use such domain names, and
* which types of use will be allowed or recommended.

As we believe that the development and implementation of one or more business cases could likely take a couple of months or even years, we have only focused on a number of high-level characteristics of our plans in relation to the operation of the .booking gTLD.

By all means, it is in Booking.com’s self-interest to, on the one hand, make the most of this initiative, promote its own business interests, and mitigate risks for its brand and brand reputation, whilst also reducing the (social) costs for others.

In this context, we intend to devise policies that encompass and comprise the following features:

At least during the initial months or even years following the delegation of the .booking gTLD to Booking.com, this extension is likely going to be a so-called “single registrant TLD” as contemplated by ICANN in Article 4.5 of the template Registry Operator Agreement (“Transition of Registry upon Termination of Agreement”). For the avoidance of doubt, a “single registrant TLD” is a TLD where “(i) all domain name registrations in the TLD are registered to, and maintained by, Registry Operator for its own exclusive use, and (ii) Registry Operator does not sell, distribute or transfer control or use of any registrations in the TLD to any third party that is not an Affiliate of Registry Operator.”

Therefore, parties who are not Booking.com will not be entitled to register domain names in the .booking gTLD.

Booking.com believes this to be in line with two of the main elements in its vision and mission statement, namely:

* Protecting and safeguarding the BOOKING.COM brand and its reputation, by keeping full control over the entire operation of the .booking registry and every domain name registered therein; and

* Guaranteeing to Booking.com’s key stakeholders who are interacting with Booking.com, by using domain names registered in .booking that they are in fact interacting with the brand owner.

Consequently, there will be no (social) costs for non-eligible (third) parties, given the fact that they will be unable to register domain names in the .booking gTLD in the first place.

However, even if only Booking.com will be entitled to register domain names, this does not exclude the hypothesis that disputes may arise with one or more third parties as regards domain names that are registered in the .booking gTLD.

In order to avoid these risks, Booking.com intends to implement the following policies and processes:

First, the domain names to be registered by Booking.com will likely relate to the following:

* registered trademarks of Booking.com;
* names of affiliates or hotel partners of Booking.com;
* names of departments within Booking.com
* names of subsidiaries.

Furthermore, Booking.com envisages registering a fair number of generic words that are directly or indirectly related to the day-to-day business activities and operations of Booking.com and its Affiliates.

Prior to effectively registering such domain names in the .booking gTLD, Booking.com will require its legal department to review the list of these domain names on a regular basis in order to satisfy itself that they will not infringe the rights of third parties.

In any case, Booking.com shall claim to have a legitimate interest in these domain names, as they are merely descriptive of the activities, products or services of Booking.com. So even if one or more of these domain names would be protected by a registered trademark, held by a third party, it is likely that a claim under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy or Uniform Rapid Suspension policy will fail.

As regards the names referred to in Specification 5 to the template Registry Operator Agreement, Booking.com will follow the processes and procedures established by ICANN and the Governmental Advisory Committee.

If Booking.com would determine, at its sole discretion, that it will gradually allow certain categories of stakeholders to register domain names in the .booking gTLD in their own name, Booking.com will devise policies to that effect.

However, Booking.com will at all times be entitled to restrict, limit or expand, among others:

* the category or categories of stakeholders who will be entitled to register one or more domain names in the .booking gTLD, including their criteria for qualification;
* the choice of domain name(s) registered in the .booking gTLD by and per such eligible stakeholder (category);
* the use made by an and per eligible stakeholder of a domain name registered in the .booking gTLD;
* the transfer of domain names registered in .booking..

Booking.com shall reserve the right to subject the registration or use of a domain name to internal approval processes and procedures, at each and every step of the domain name life cycle.

Given the fact that Booking.com may release such available domain names post launch in a highly controlled manner, this also reduces the likelihood that two or more applicants qualify for the registration of the same domain name in the .booking top-level domain;

As a method of last resort, and subject to the actual domain name registration policy adopted by the Registry Operator and in force at the time of registration, domain names will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

In any event, Booking.com reserves the right to change or restrict any policies, procedures and practices at any point in time, especially if it is of the opinion that there would be a risk that, e.g. the reputation of the BOOKING.COM brand would be damaged.

The Applicant intends to make the .booking top-level domain available to qualifying domain name registrants at no cost to them; if the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator would be required to charge a fee for the registration of domain names under the .booking TLD, the fee will be set at a cost-recovery or arm’s length basis, to be determined at that time by the Registry.

If Booking.com will be required to or would decide to increase the fees for the registration of domain names, such increases will keep pace with the comparable market rates at that point in time.

So, in brief:

1. The Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator may reserve, delegate and use a potentially large number of domain names that are directly or indirectly relevant to Applicant’s business in its own name. Since some of these domain names could be of a descriptive nature, the chances for qualifying ⁄ eligible applicants ⁄ registrants to register such domain names after the launch will be limited;

2. The Registry Operator shall be entitled at all times to release available domain names post launch in a highly controlled manner, which also reduces the likelihood that two or more applicants qualify for the registration of the same domain name in the .booking top-level domain;

3. As a method of last resort, and subject to the actual domain name registration policy adopted by the Registry Operator and in force at the time of registration, domain names will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis;

4. If the Applicant decides to allow third parties to register a domain name under the .booking TLD, the Applicant intends to make.booking top-level domains available to qualifying domain name registrants at no cost to them; if the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator would be required to charge a fee for the registration of domain names under the .booking TLD, the fee will be set at a cost-recovery or arm’s length basis, to be determined at that time by the Registry;

5. If the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator will be required to increase the fees for the registration of domain names, such increases are intended to keep pace with comparable market rates. However, the Registry Operator shall at all times be entitled to bundle the registration of domain names with other products or services offered by or on behalf of Booking.com at a fee to be set by the Registry Operator.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.公司	Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences （China Internet Network Information Center）	cnnic.cn	View

18 c Operating Rules to Eliminate or Minimize Social Costs

18.c.1 Definition and Category of Social Costs

It is predicted that most of ʺ.公司ʺ domain names will be used within the Chinese language community, where a majority of the registrants is expected as emerging small and medium-sized commercial organizations in developing countries. Therefore, it would be difficult to achieve the targets of ʺ.公司ʺ if the social costs are too high. To achieve the goals of ʺ.公司ʺ, CNNIC will minimize the following time or financial resource costs of registrants, registrars and end-users via policies and operations of ʺ.公司ʺ as far as possible. As predicted by CNNIC, the operation of ʺ.公司ʺ will mainly produce the following costs:

18c.1.1 For Registrants:

(1)costs for registration of ʺ.公司ʺ domain names

(2)costs for renewal of ʺ.公司ʺ domain names

(3)costs for trademark infringement dispute and defensive registration under ʺ.公司ʺ domain

(4)additional advertising costs incurred from the promotion of the ʺ.公司ʺ domain name

18c.1.2 For Registrars:

(1) service costs to be paid to the CNNIC

(2) costs for the promotion and marketing of ʺ.公司ʺ

(3) costs for the operation and maintenance of ʺ.公司ʺ registration services

18c.1.3 For End-users:

(1) time costs for searching, inputting and memorizing the ʺ.公司ʺ domain name

(2) losses incurred to the consumer as a result of ʺ.公司ʺ domain name abuse

18c.2 Rules on ʺ.公司ʺ to minimize social costs

18c.2.1 For Registrants:

18c.2.1.1Reasonable Pricing Model of Registration

(1). A unified pricing model including the price of registration and that of renewal will be formulated for ʺ.公司ʺ based on its market demand and operating costs (see Question 46 for details), and the prices will be maintained reasonable and stable to compete fairly with other IDN gTLD, so as to ensure that registrants, especially those with relatively weak economic capability are able to register the ʺ.公司ʺ domain name.

(2). As the registration of ʺ.公司ʺ increases, the unit operating cost for every domain will keep decreasing, and CNNIC will, based on the decrease in its operating costs, adjust the prices accordingly, and provide each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed registry-registrar agreement for ʺ.公司ʺ advance notice of any price change according to the regulations of ICANN.

(3). CNNIC will handle multiple applications for the same domain name on the basis of uniform price and first-come⁄first-serve to effectively reduce the bidding costs spent by registrants and enable more small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain high value domain names with relatively low prices.

(4). CNNIC forbids registrars to register domain names with false information, occupy domain name resources in a disguised form or drive up domain name prices.

(5)Because Chinese variants have the same pronunciation and the same meaning as its official form, Chinese users regard them as interchangeable. Thus a variant IDN, derived from an IDN by replacing some characters with their variants, should match the original IDN. It is a consensus within the Chinese language community that the Chinese internationalized domain label(IDL) and itʹs variants labels should be belong to the same registrant⁄applicant, and the Simplified and Traditional Chinese forms of the applied-for should be resolvable simultaneously or non-resolvable at all in ʺ.公司ʺ domain. Our policy will mandate that when an IDL is registered, all variant IDLs in the IDL package are unavailable to other name holders. In addition to the registered IDL, the registry will activate Simplified whole string and Traditional whole string IDLs to the same registrant⁄applicant for free.

18c.2.1.2 Effectively Reduced Costs for the Renewal of Domain Names

(1). Registrants are free to choose, at their own discretion, a registration period of 1-10 years (to a maximum of 10 years) and free to renew their registration based on their own will, and CNNIC will provide in its agreement with registrars that to buy or sell under coercion, sale with treats or selling bundled services on the part of registrars are prohibited.

(2). At the initial operating period of ʺ.公司ʺ, incentive measures will be taken to encourage new registrants to register ʺ.公司ʺ for a longer term of registration. Consumers of newly registered domain names will be exempted for paying certain term of registration period depending on the length of registration period, so as to expedite the popularization and lower the costs of domain names.

(3). To ensure reasonable price of renewal for consumers, CNNIC will take efforts to stabilize the price and propose to undertake in the registration agreement that the registration and renewal price will be kept as stabilized during an effective term of the Registry Contract. Certain price adjustment may take place at the contract renewal point with respect to the Consumer Price Index, labor cost and tax rate change in China and the market condition change. Therefore consumers do not need to worry about low price trap.

(4). CNNIC customer service group will conduct monitoring over consumers’ renewal of domain names, investigate cases where renewal fails to take place, and make improvement in services to the point in cooperation with registrars to make it more convenient for consumers to renew their domain names or change registrar and reduce costs for registrants.

18c.2.1.3 Guaranteed Trademark Rights and Reduced Costs for Domain Name Dispute

(1).A Sunrise Period of 30 days will be launched in accordance with relevant policies of ICANN on Trademark Clearing House Mechanism to allow qualified right holders of validated national recognized trademarks to register ʺ.公司ʺ domain names with priority. Trademark Claim Service will also be provided in the first 60 days of general registration period, for the registration of domain names that match with corresponding trademarks included in the Trademark Clearing House, so as to allow trademark holders to protect their trademark rights through registration and reduce costs resulting from domain name disputes.
　
(2). The UDRP, PDDRP and RRDRP provided by ICANN and relevant URS policies will be abided by in respect of ʺ.公司ʺ and accessibility of 99% information in Whois will be assured to ensure that domain name abuse. Dispute under ʺ.公司ʺ can be resolved in a timely manner and that losses incurred to domain name holders as a result of domain name abuse and trademark infringement can be reduced to the greatest extent possible.
　
(3) Efforts will be made to introduce the Chinese domain names to the software vendors in order to expedite applications Chinese ʺ.公司ʺ domain name. This will enable consumers to get to know the use value of Chinese domain names, increase the level of activity of domain names, reduce investments in domain name registration purely for defensive purposes, and upgrade the practical value of domain names.

(4) CNNIC will undertake to treat all registrants equally, and except for domain names reserved or restricted from registration as prescribed by national laws and relevant provisions of ICANN, all holders of trademark rights will be entitled to the same registration right; CNNIC will not set any priorities in the protection of specific trademarks and guarantees to treat each registrant in a fair manner.

18c.2.1.4 Reduced Costs for The Promotion of Domain Names

(1) ʺ.公司ʺ supports various combinations of Chinese characters, and a ʺ.公司ʺ domain name can be made exactly match the Chinese name of a corresponding organization, which makes it convenient for consumers to read and memorize, improves effectiveness in the publicity of the name of the organization, and makes it easy for itself to be accepted by most of the Chinese language end-users without too much costs for publicity.

(2) CNNIC will reinforce in its publicity plans the promotion of typical cases of the application of ʺ.公司ʺ domain names and boost publicity among registrants from sideways, and concurrently increase acceptance of Chinese domain names by consumers to save publicity costs.

18c.2.2 For Registrars:

18c.2.2.1 Reasonable Registry Fee

(1) CNNIC will provide all registrars accredited by ICANN with uniform policies on prices, preferential treatments and discounts to ensure that registrars can engage in fair competition.

(2) The pricing of ʺ.公司ʺ domain names in registrars is relatively low as compared to other IDN GTLDs of the same category, therefore there is a room with competitive advantage for surrendering part of the profits on the part of the registrars.

18c.2.2.2 Reduced Costs for the Promotion and Marketing of ʺ.公司ʺ

(1) CNNIC will be engaged in active cooperation with registrars in carrying out diversified marketing activities, including advertising and news release, and designate staffs to attend sales conferences organized by registrars and promote their sale.

(2) CNNIC will institute a rebate program during each year of operation. Through this rebate program, ICANN-accredited registrars that have registered domain names in the new TLD will be eligible to receive a rebate based on the registration increase and renewal rate. This policy will be provided to each registrar equally. CNNIC will conduct annual appraisal of its licensed registrars. If an increase in new registration and renewal rate is found compared to the benchmark value of the last year’s performance, CNNIC will grant a certain amount of rebates with respect to the newly registered domain names, which shall be used as marketing funds for ʺ.公司ʺ to encourage registrars to develop markets especially in areas with a relatively low Internet penetration rate.
　
18c.2.2.3 Reduced Costs for the Operation of ʺ.公司ʺ

(1). Registrars will not be charged with any certification cost, and any registrar that qualifies for the provision of ʺ.公司ʺ registration services may apply to become a ʺ.公司ʺ registrar.

(2) The registry architecture will automate several functions. These include the ability to track, in real-time, status updates of customer registrars, custom reports for registrars, near real-time zone file updates, and over the medium term, real-time updates of the DNS zone files. By automating these processes, registrars can expect meaningful operational cost savings. As such, CNNIC, through its technological solutions, will provide indirect business opportunities to its customer registrars through lower operational costs.

(3). There are relatively mature registrar support staffs and secure and reliable registration service platform and client which are ready to help registrars to establish ʺ.公司ʺ domain name registration services with the lowest costs.
　
18c.2.3 For End-Users:

18c.2.3.1 Reduced Costs for Searching, Inputting and Memorizing the ʺ.公司ʺ Domain Name

(1) With the efforts of CNNIC and the Chinese language community, currently most of the browsers support the input of Chinese domain names, which has reduced costs resulting from incompatibility.

(2) CNNIC is also actively cooperating with such Chinese language search engines and software vendors for promoting applications of Chinese domain names to make it convenient for consumers to accept Chinese domain names.

(3)The form of the ʺ.公司ʺ domain name also fit neatly with the reading and memory habits of Chinese language users and reduces additional time costs incurred from domain name confusion.

18c.2.3.2 Reduced Losses Resulting Domain Name Abuse

(1). CNNIC’s experience in domain name management will be utilized to impose punishment with respect to such acts of domain name abuse as phishing websites and virus transmission in a timely manner to reduce consumers’ costs, and CNNIC undertakes that the percentage of ʺ.公司ʺ domain name abuse will not exceed 5%.

(2). Accredited registrars will be required to verify the accuracy of information in Whois, so as to ensure that law enforcement agencies can find the person who has committed act of domain name abuse and relieves can be obtained in time with respect to the rights of consumers.

(3) Chinese variants have the same pronunciation and the same meaning as its official form, Chinese users regard them as interchangeable. The Chinese internationalized domain label(IDL) and itʹs variants labels will be mandated by CNNIC’s policy following the rules as the Simplified and Traditional Chinese forms of the applied-for should be resolvable simultaneously for the same registrant⁄applicant or non-resolvable at all in ʺ.公司ʺ domain. This will reduce the chance of string confusion caused by Chinese variant domain names.

18c.3 Specific Measures to Minimize Social Costs

18c.3.1 Domain Name String Contention Resolution

　CNNIC will, based on the right protection mechanism of ICANN, make Sunrise registration services available for holders of valid trademark rights during the 30-day Sunrise Period prior to the official launch of the public registration of the ʺ.公司ʺ domain name. All trademark right holders will be entitled to equal priority in registration, the principle of first-come⁄first serve shall apply in case of domain name string contention, and uniform prices will be used. This measure will reduce the costs of domain name registration to the greatest extent possible comparing with the method of auction.

　After the Sunrise Period, CNNIC will continue to resolve domain name string contention on the first-come⁄first serve basis. Where any domain name dispute occurs, UDRP shall apply. Besides, either party may resort to arbitration or judicial decision, or consumers may file complaints with URS in view of domain name use with bad faith.

18c.3.2 Cost Benefits Measures

To drive the stable development of ʺ.公司ʺ, CNNIC plans to adopt a two-stage promotion scheme based on the principle of providing fair and consistent preferential policies for all registrants and registries. The first stage will be consumer incentives, during which domain name registrants will be stimulated to enhance the popularity and acceptability of domain names; and the second stage will be channel incentives, during which further support will be provided for registrars to conduct marketing on the basis of consumers’ recognition in the first stage.

18c.3.2.1 First Stage

18c.3.2.1.1 Period

The period of the first stage will be the first calendar year after the initial launch of ʺ.公司ʺ for registration.

18c.3.2.1.2 Targets

(1) Enhance the popularity and acceptability of domain names among consumers, and increase market attention.

(2) Increase the average term of registration of newly registered domain names and ensure the stability of domain name users.

18c.3.2.1.3 Measures

CNNIC will take incentive measures directly targeted at consumers to encourage them to register ʺ.公司ʺ for a longer term of registration. Specifically, CNNIC will grant price concession for one-time domain name new registration with a certain length of period , so as to expedite the popularization and increase the average new registration of domain names:

(1)An one-year exemption will be granted to the users who register one time for four to six years ;

(2)A two-year exemption will be granted to the users who register one time for seven to nine years;

(3)A three-year exemption will be granted to the users who register one time for ten years.

18c.3.2.2 Second Stage

18c.3.2.2.1 Period

The period of the second stage shall be 12 natural months since the end of the first stage, and appraisement will be conducted on a yearly basis.

18c.3.2.2.2 Targets

(1) Encourage registrars to increase the new registration of the ʺ.公司ʺ domain name.

(2) Encourage registrars to increase renewals of historical ʺ.公司ʺ domain names.

(3) Encourage registrars to increase the proportion of their ʺ.公司ʺ domain name business.

18c.3.2.2.3 Measures

If during the appraisal of the first year, a certain percentage of growth is seen in the newly registered domain names in any registrar as compared to the benchmark value and a certain rate of renewal is achieved, CNNIC will grant a certain amount of rebates with respect to the newly registered domain names as a marketing fund for the domain name promotion in the lower market penetration area, as is shown in the attached table in 48(a)_attachement_1_schedule_2.

18c.3.3 Provisions on Price Increase

18.3.3.1 Limit on price increase

Based on the expected increasing amount of the registration of ʺ.公司ʺ, the single unit service cost for each registration is expected to be reduced. CNNIC will take efforts to stabilize the price and propose to undertake in the registration agreement that the registration and renewal price will be kept as stabilized during an effective term of the Registry Contract. Some price adjustment may take place at the contract renewal point with respect to the following conditions:

(1)economic environment change with higher inflation rate in China

(2)tax increase

(3)labor cost increase

(4)other market variation and technical evolution that may lead to cost change

Due to uncertainty of the market environment at the time of delegation, the actual contractual terms of annual price increase magnitude within the registry agreement shall be further discussed based on the above conditions at the time of delegation.

18.3.3.2 Notice of Price Increase

With respect to initial domain name registrations, CNNIC will provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the RRA for the TLD advance written notice of any price increase (including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs which had the effect of reducing the price charged to registrars, unless such refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs are of a limited duration that is clearly and conspicuously disclosed to the registrar when offered) of no less than thirty (30) calendar days. CNNIC will offer registrars 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.

With respect to renewal of domain name registrations, CNNIC will provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD advance written notice of any price increase (including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying, Qualified Marketing Programs or other programs which had the effect of reducing the price charged to registrars) of no less than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days.

In addition, CNNIC will have uniform pricing for renewals of domain name registrations (ʺRenewal Pricingʺ). For the purposes of determining Renewal Pricing, the price for each domain registration renewal will be identical to the price of all other domain name registration renewals in place at the time of such renewal, and such price must take into account universal application of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs in place at the time of renewal.