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

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.renBeijing Qianxiang Wangjing Technology Development Co., Ltd.renren-inc.comView
Describe the mission⁄purpose of your proposed gTLD

The information gathered in response to Question 18 is intended to inform the postlaunch review of the New gTLD Program, from the perspective of assessing the relative costs and benefits achieved in the expanded gTLD space.
For the application to be considered complete, answers to this section must be fulsome and sufficiently quantitative and detailed to inform future study on plans vs. results.
The New gTLD Program will be reviewed, as specified in section 9.3 of the Affirmation of Commitments. This will include consideration of the extent to which the introduction or expansion of gTLDs has promoted competition, consumer trust and consumer choice, as well as effectiveness of
(a) the application and evaluation process, and (b) safeguards put in place to mitigate issues involved in the introduction or expansion.
The information gathered in this section will be one source of input to help inform this review. This information is not used as part of the evaluation or scoring of the application, except to the extent that the information may overlap with questions or evaluation areas that are scored.
An applicant wishing to designate this application as community-based should ensure that these responses are consistent with its responses for question 20 below.
Renren Inc, listed on New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RENN, operates the leading real-name social networking internet platform in China, which includes the main social networking website renren.com, the online games center game.renren.com, the social commerce website nuomi.com and the professional and business social networking service website jingwei.com.
Currently, the platform enables users to connect and communicate with one another, share information and user generated content, play online games, listen to music, shop for deals and enjoy a wide range of other features and services.
As of the end of 2011, total assets of Renren Inc stood at USD 1.1 billion, with net revenues at USD 118 million on 77.8% gross profit margin. The platform had 147 million activated users.
Renren Inc’s vision is to aim to define social networking experience and to revolutionize the way that people in China connect, communicate, entertain and shop. To achieve this goal, Renren Inc is focused on providing a highly engaging and interactive platform that promotes connectivity, communication and sharing among its users. As such, Renren Inc, through its managed subsidiary, Beijing Qianxiang Wangjing Technology Development Co Ltd (“the Applicant”) is going to apply for the top level domain name “.ren”.
As indicated in the attachment, the Applicant is 100% fully owned subsidiary of Beijing Qianxiang Tiancheng Technology Development Co., Ltd (“Qianxiang Tiancheng”). Qianxiang Tiancheng in return has entered into a series of legal contractual agreements with Qianxiang Shiji Technology Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd, the wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) for Renren Inc in China. These agreements allow Renren Inc to exercise effective control over Qianxiang Tiancheng and its subsidiaries.
This structure is a typical variable interest entity (VIE) structure and is commonly used by majority of Chinese companies to list outside of China. Since the internet sector in China does not permit foreign investment, Chinese companies that list overseas will use a foreign incorporated company as the listed company. The choice is usually a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, in this case Renren Inc, due to its tax-free status and established legal system. Then in order for the publicly listed company to get access to the profits of the Chinese operations for the benefit of the shareholders, the publicly listed company will set up a WFOE in China, in this case, Qianxiang Shiji Technology Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd, and enter into a series of legal agreements with the VIE entity in China (Qianxiang Tiancheng).
The vision for “.ren” is to be a natural extension of the platform’s current offering to its users and potentially to rest of the 500 million internet population in China. “.ren” is simple and easy to remember. In Chinese, “ren” (人) means human being and is used commonly to refer to a person. The platform renren.com is basically composed of two of this character and promotes the vision of human being connecting with human being through the platform.
The Applicant currently is managing 2nd level top domain names such as renren.com, nuomi.com and jingwei.com which seems to be not inter-related to the users. Through “.ren” top level domain name, the Applicant will be able to consolidate and integrate all the various services and features under one unique and closely managed space with enhanced security and control. The consolidation and integration will greatly aid the Applicant to optimize its future online marketing and promotional efforts, and saving costs in brand awareness.
In addition, the Applicant wishes to first extend the “.ren” top level domain to the VIP users on its platform. A VIP user currently has to subscribe on a monthly basis to enjoy the privileges such as personalized third level domain names under “.com” and that by offering “.ren”, the Applicant believes that it is providing a better and more natural alternative to this service. Furthermore, the Applicant is also going to offer additional services as the user’s own individual homepage and email account on this top level domain name. Through this offering, the Applicant believes it will help to create better user experience and stickiness among its solid foundation of users.
The Applicant currently holds the trademark of “REN” (http:⁄⁄assignments.uspto.gov⁄assignments⁄q?db=tm&sno=85074624). The top level domain name “.ren” will serve as the online externalization of this trademark. For the first time since the invention of the Internet, a company will have full ownership of a top level domain “brand” name. Through “.ren”, the Applicant can help to promote healthy competition from the registrars by dictating the level of service and quality expected from a publicly traded company that operates the leading real-name social networking internet platform in China.
Furthermore, this will increase the level of trust from the users as problems like phishing, domain redirection and domain parking will be eliminated. Users know that they can depend on such gTLDs that are the brand personification of the actual entity.
The Applicant’s expectation for “.ren” for the first three years is that, it will initially reach about 152,000 in the 1st year, and grow to 202,400 and 251,280 in the 2nd and 3rd year respectively.
The projection is based on a conservative estimate taking the following into consideration:
• the total number of domain names registered in China across all TLDs
• the proportion of the total number of domain names registered in China that are in Chinese
• ICANN new gTLD study (ICANN benchmarking of registry operations, Feb. 2010)
• the pricing point for “.ren” and how the China market would react based on the team’s experience in China
• the initial growth of existing gTLDs in China
The pricing for “.ren” is intentionally set at a slightly higher price point to other generic TLDs as the Applicant envisions “.ren” to be adopted for a certain group of the Chinese Internet community.
The Applicant will have Sunrise process prior to opening the general registration to ensure that the relevant rights owners have their first rights to their names. Landrush period will also introduced to cater for the ardent aspirant registrants. The Applicant will also adopt the Trademark Clearing House to reduce cybersquatting and other intellectual property rights infringements. Furthermore, the Applicant will have additional protection for geographic names. Details of these protections are described in the answer to Question 22, 28 and 29.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.phoneWild 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.