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

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.LATECOM-LAC Federaciòn de Latinoamèrica y el Caribe para Internet y el Comercio Electrònicocabase.org.arView
.LAT MISSION AND PURPOSE

Internet continues growing day by day, touching more and more people every day. This means that internet users need to identify and differentiate themselves, even beyond their own region, in an effort to reflect their identity in their cultural, social and business activities.

In response to this need, in recent years we have seen the advent of some new top level domains such as: ‘.biz’, ‘.info’, ‘.name’, ‘.travel’, ‘.mobi’, and notably the regional identity TLDs – ‘.eu’, and ‘.asia’ and cultural identity domains such as ‘.cat’ . These two latter domains, offer their registrants the option of registering domain names that enable them to establish a regional or cultural identity in the Internet, in comparison with, for example, a national identity obtained by registering their domain names under a country code top level domain (ccTLD).

With the purpose of responding to the need of choice, and to give latino individuals and organizations from all over the world a new choice to identify themselves with the rest of the internet, eCOM-LAC and NIC Mexico have partnered together to participate in ICANN’s New gTLDs Program and apply to obtain the delegation of a new top level domain for latinos: .LAT

.LAT is easily recognizable and has intrinsic meaning as oriented to latinos and has the potential to serve as a virtual space that brings together the diverse actors that make up the latino community.

ABOUT ECOM-LAC

eCOM-LAC is the Latin America and Caribbean Federation of Internet and Electronic Commerce. Founded in March 1999 in a meeting of stakeholders held in Rio de Janeiro, eCOM-LAC was conceived as a non-profit regional entity, which could congregate non-profit industry associations, chambers of commerce and corporations, interested in contributing to the development of the Internet and Electronic Commerce in the region. The entity registered formally in the Republic of Uruguay as an International Non-Profit Entity, and has legal and administrative offices in the LACNIC building in Montevideo.

The entity’s main activities can be summarized thus:

* Participation in ICANN since 1999, attending every ICANN meeting worldwide
* Founding member of LACNIC - 1999
* Organizer of two Regional e-Commerce Summits – Sao Paulo 2000, Buenos Aires 2001
* Participation in the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS)-2003-2005
* Social inclusion educational project titled “Mi lugar, Atlas de la diversidad” – 2002-2004 (As member of group of NGOs in the European Commission @lis program)
* Became a member of Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) in 2006
* Became member of GKP Board of Directors (2009), and then a Trustee of the new GKP Foundation (registered in Gijòn – Asturias, March 2011)
* Organized two “Future of the Internet” conferences – Chile and Brazil (2010)
* Organized two Latin America⁄Caribbean Public Policy Forums – Miami 2010 and 2011

A TLD FOR LATINOS

Latin or Hispanic population, latinos, refers to people who have in common or share a strong heritage of any country from Latin America, this special link is strengthened by their own cultural influence. Being that the most common languages in Latin America have the same origin, it is easy to understand why language is one of the most important cultural influences in this culture.

Notwithstanding the existing and clearly visible geographic differences in Latin America, latinos are noted for preserving a strong identity connection with people from their same origins. This linkage is reinforced by the existing similarities that are characteristic of latino countries, be it in their political histories, their social structures and their economies.

The latinos that live in a country they were not born in, tend to miss their old way of life, such as the habits and customs they performed daily. This homesickness becomes a factor that increases the latino sentiment, with this the latino population generates and develops a series of activities within their community, in order to link up and remember their past, be it through specialized commercial products, integration cultural activities, religious festivities, etc. In the United States, these activities are generating a resurgence of the latino identity, which to a degree, is caused by the increase in purchasing power of the new latino generations and the migrations of the last decades.

OBJECTIVES OF THE .LAT

The .LAT is an initiative to give latino individuals and organizations from all over the world a new choice to identify themselves with the rest of the internet, enabling them to promote their culture, interests and heritage through internet presence with latin identity.

The objectives the .LAT initiative pursues are:

* Adopt a new gTLD oriented to the latino community. This translates to the development and promotion of a new category of specialized domain names for the latino community, becoming a real alternative to the current TLDs.
* Establish a gTLD that is easily recognizable. The .LAT, due to its number of characters and intrinsic meaning, will be easy to memorize, and will represent a cultural legacy more than a geographic space.
* Facilitate regional communication between latinos. The .LAT will serve as a means of drawing close, targeted at the worldwide latino community, be they residents of their country of origin, or people who have had to migrate to another country.
* Guarantee a virtual space that brings together the diverse actors that make up the latino community. The latino diversity does not center only on country of origin, but it also includes their social environment and economic activity: companies, institutions and civil society.
* Turn the .LAT domain into a platform for the growth of the Internet, and as a tool for business in the latino market. The .LAT will be a digital component that will increasingly enable more latino companies and individuals to initiate or continue their growth and conquer new markets on a global scale. Thus, the gTLD will promote the visibility of the latino market, offering a communication channel via the Internet by leveraging the high label recognition, multiplying the efforts of companies and individuals seeking to offer services and⁄or products for the latino market through the Internet.
* Promote and develop the use of information technologies. The .LAT will contribute to the process of developing technologically based initiatives, that promote the development of the Internet, focused on the welfare of latinos and reinforcing their identity on the Internet.
* Complement the development of the latino ccTLDs, The existing links between the diverse latino ccTLDs will be reinforced and thus, between the communities that make up and use these ccTLDs, taking the integration between the users of these ccTLDs to the next level, to a global scale. This will result in an important impulse in the category of latino domain names, projecting them as an increasingly attractive market. A specialized domain will assist in the acceleration and self-evolution of the latino identity, which will complement the national identity.

In summary, the .LAT TLD is the “logical home” for latinos all over the world seeking internet presence with latin identity.

With the development of the .LAT new gTLD, eCOM-LAC will get the funds necessary to finance projects and initiatives contained in the main directives of the organization, like the development of information technologies in Latin-America , and also the promotion and support to projects and initiatives that focus on reducing the digital divide.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.homeBaxter Pike, 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.