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29 Rights Protection Mechanisms

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Rights Protection Mechanism

Registry commits to implement rights protection mechanisms sufficient to comply with at least minimum requirements in specification 7 of the Registry Agreement. The Registry shall implement and adhere to any Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) that may be mandated by ICANN from time to time. Additional RPMs as further described below may also be developed and implemented by the Registry to discourage and prevent abusive domain name registrations. All RPMs mandated by ICANN and independently developed by the Registry will be included in the Registry registry-registrar agreement.

〈Many of the answers to the following questions may overlap answers to issues related with Abuse prevention. This situation arises because mechanisms implemented may serve both causes: Abuse prevention and Rights Protection〉

In this question we will address the mechanisms and resources we will use to protect rights of potential and actual registrants of domains under the extension.

- Mechanisms
- Resources
- Policy
- Promotion of WHOIS accuracy


Mechanisms

Mechanisms implemented for Rights protection can be divided in two sections:

- Mechanisms that grant priority to interested parties with rights over a domain
- Mehanisms that relieve situations in which a registration was made violating someone else´s rights

We will next list the mechanisms proposed under both sections and explain the detail for each one.

Priority mechanisms

1) Launch phases (Gradual Offering Plan): As stated before the registry will implement a Gradual offering plan that seeks to fairly assign domains to their rightful owners.

- Sunrise: As mentioned ealier a Sunrise phase will be implemented to grant privileged accesss to Registrants representing valid Trademarks as per the Sunrise policies implemented.
- Landrush: For Trademarks that do not qualify for the sunrise phase and for individuals with interests in strings that are not protected by Trademarks the Landrush phase will allow a period for the assignment of domains not in a first come - first served basis.

Trademark Clearinghouse: The Registry will use Trademark Clearinghouse to support its pre-launch or initial launch period rights protection mechanism (RPMs). These RPMs, at minimum, will consist of a Trademark Claim service (explained later) and a Sunrise process.
- The Registry agrees to adhere to the Clause 6 ‘Mandatory Rights Protection Mechanisms’ and Clause 7 ‘Protection for Marks in Clearinghouse’ of the Trademark Clearinghouse attachment to the AGB.
- The Registry shall also take reference to the Trademark Notice as attached in the same document.
- The Registry has allocated budget as cost of sales to pay Trademark Clearinghouse for the Trademark Claims and Sunrise service.

By the use of this phases we grant priority access to domain registrations to companies and individuals with rights over specific domains. If a party holds rights over a certain string, they may register the corresponding domain in the Sunrise phase before anyone else. On the other hand, for special circumstances rightful owners may request a domain in the Landrush phase without being subject to the First Come First Serve basis. This opportunity gives rights to rightful owners to participate for the registration without priority, but whithout the hassle of timeframes.


Relief mechanisms

1) Resolution policies adopted: Registry will adopt Resolution policies as per ICANN indications

- URS: The Uniform Rapid Suspension process will be implemented by the Registry to allow for rapid takedown of abusive regsitrations. The Registry will cooperate with ICANN for the implementation of URS, shall the policies and procedures are finalized. The involvement of the registry for the scope of URS shall include the following:
- Upon completion of the Administrative Review, the URS Provider will immediately notify the registry (via email) (“Notice of Compliant”) after the Compliant has deemed compliant with the filing requirements. Within 24 hours of receipt of the Notice of Complaint from the URS Provider, the registry shall “lock” the domain name, meaning the registry shall restrict all changes to the registration data, including transfer and deletion of the domain names, but the name will continue to resolve. The registry will notify the URS provider immediately upon locking the domain name (“Notice of Lock”).
- If after the Examination in Default case, the Examiner rules in favor of the Registrant, the URS provider shall notify the registry. Upon receiving the official notice from the URS provider, the registry will unblock the name and return full control of the domain name registration to the Registrant.
If the Determination is in favor of the Complainant, upon receiving the official decision from the URS provider, the registry will suspend the domain name, which shall remain suspended for the balance of the registration period and would not resolve to the original web site. The nameservers shall be re-directed to an informational web page provided by the USR Provider.
- The Registry will incorporate URS into the Registration policies, as a takedown measures and procedures to minimize abusive registration.

Alternative use of Rapid Takedown Dispute Resolution Policies: In the absence of URS, the Registry may provide a Rapid Takedown process through engagement with a dispute resolution provider that consists of a response team of qualified expert (qualified UDRP panelist). The Registry agrees that majority of cases that go through the Uniform Dispute Resolution Process (UDRP) are mainly obvious variant of well-known marks. As such, it would be a waste of time or resources for the most obvious cases of infringement to go through the UDRP filings. Registry may provide a rapid takedown process where a response team of qualified experts (qualified UDRP panellists) will be involved to determine within 48 hours of receipt of a short and simple claim of involving a well-known mark or otherwise inherently distinctive mark and a domain name where no conceivable good faith basis exists. The results may result in an immediate termination of the domain name, but will not prejudice either party’s election to pursue other dispute mechanisms.

- UDRP: The UDRP will be adopted and Registrars will be required to comply to any and every determination made by the administrative entity handling any UDRP process. The Registry will adopt UDRP within the Registration Agreement and also be adopted by the registrars. Essentially, the UDRP is a policy between a registrar and its customer and is included in registration agreements for all ICANN-accredited registrars.

The policies mentioned above are relief measures that may be adopted by any person or company if rights have been violated through a domain registration. We will attend an implement the mentioned procedures in a strict manner.


Other mechanisms: As required be ICANN Registry will comply to the Trademark Notice Notification service. This service will be implemented for the first 60 days after general availability is open. The service will be fully provided by the Registry and the Registrars need not to worry about the implementation of the notices.


Resources:

The following resources will be employed by the Registry to promote the rightful behavior of registrants of domain names under the extension.

- Compliance executive: The compliance executive will serve as a leader of the implementation of rightful policies and mechanisms for domains under the extension.

Tasks of the Compliance executive related to rigths protection include:

a) Serving as the point of contact for any issues regarding processes like URS and UDRP. The Compliance officer will also execute decisions regarding the policies.
b) Promote the comunication of rights protection mechanisms among registrants and the general audience.
c) Participate and engage with ICANN regarding all compliance requests and policies to be implemented.
*Compliance officer will be in charge of setting up a single point of contact with information at the Registry website for rights protection issues.
*Compliance officer will be bound to a SLA as described later


Policy:

Registrar policy: Registry will also demand that a rights protection point of contact (may be the same abuse point of contact) be present at all accredited registrars and serve for:

a) Receiving any rights complaints about registrations.
b) Serving as the point of contact for any issues regarding processes like URS and UDRP.

Registrar policy: Registrar will be required to have terms and agreements with every registrant that strictly state what constitutes rights violations, restricts the same, and clearly states remedies available as mitigation to such behavior.

Reseller policy: Registrar will be required and bound by the Registrar agreement to represent any Reseller as if the actions of the Reseller were made by the Registrar itself. Registrar will also be required to have terms and agreements with every reseller that strictly control and instruct policies in the case of rights violations.

All other policies as instructed by ICANN and as found relevant to reduce unrightful domain Registrations.


Specific topics on rights protection

It is not the responsibility of the Registry to determine if a domain registration is rightful or not. For this purpose, Administrative entities and establishemnts have been set. The Registry will conform to policies and procedures but must not intevene in legal determinations whatsoever.

SLA for resolution of rights violation determinations: Registry will comply to timing as indicated in Dispute Resolution policies adopted by ICANN. The following SLAs will also be enforced:

- Reply to any rights violation claim: 12 hours
- Communication to all related parties of rights violation claim: 12 hours
- Compliance to any instructions given by Administrators panelists of other authorized personnel: 36 hours


Resource and Operation Plan

As this issue is heavily related to policy, resources constitute only means of executing the proposed mechanisms. For the implementation the following resources will be available:

- Compliance officer
- Operational executive (support)

These two persons will manage implement and track the execution of the proposed Abuse Mitigation measures.

On-hand resources:

- Registry team has run for almost 3 years Domain Registration Services that have been very successful in Colombia and in more than 10 countries around the world. Registry team will be comprised of experienced executives in the domain registration business from Central Comercializadora de Internet (ICANN Accredited Registrar). Resources are on hand for all the non technical operations of the Registry. On hand operational non technical resources for this task include:

- Project manager (Compliance officer)
- Operational executive (One of the two support specialists)
These resources are currently part of the team that runs Central Comercializadora de Internet (ICANN Accredited Registrar).

Resource activity plan:

As this task is strictly related with policy it will be the Registry team that will be in charge of this aspect.

From the Registry side, Project manager, support specialists, and Technical Leader will handle issues related to administrative control, non technical relationship with Registrars, relationship with ICANN, relationship with providers such as Qinetics, Policy monitoring and Management, etc. Registry team will fulfill all of the tasks and activities detailed above.
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Rights Protection Mechanism

Registry commits to implement rights protection mechanisms sufficient to comply with at least minimum requirements in specification 7 of the Registry Agreement. The Registry shall implement and adhere to any Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) that may be mandated by ICANN from time to time. Additional RPMs as further described below may also be developed and implemented by the Registry to discourage and prevent abusive domain name registrations. All RPMs mandated by ICANN and independently developed by the Registry will be included in the Registry registry-registrar agreement.

〈Many of the answers to the following questions may overlap answers to issues related with Abuse prevention. This situation arises because mechanisms implemented may serve both causes: Abuse prevention and Rights Protection〉

In this question we will address the mechanisms and resources we will use to protect rights of potential and actual registrants of domains under the extension.

- Mechanisms
- Resources
- Policy

Mechanisms

Mechanisms implemented for Rights protection can be divided in two sections:

- Mechanisms that grant priority to interested parties with rights over a domain
- Mehanisms that relieve situations in which a registration was made violating someone else´s rights

We will next list the mechanisms proposed under both sections and explain the detail for each one.

Priority mechanisms

1) Launch phases (Gradual Offering Plan): As stated before the registry will implement a Gradual offering plan that seeks to fairly assign domains to their rightful owners.

- Sunrise: As mentioned ealier a Sunrise phase will be implemented to grant privileged accesss to Registrants representing valid Trademarks as per the Sunrise policies implemented.
- Landrush: For Trademarks that do not qualify for the sunrise phase and for individuals with interests in strings that are not protected by Trademarks the Landrush phase will allow a period for the assignment of domains not in a first come - first served basis.

Trademark Clearinghouse: The Registry will use Trademark Clearinghouse to support its pre-launch or initial launch period rights protection mechanism (RPMs). These RPMs, at minimum, will consist of a Trademark Claim service (explained later) and a Sunrise process.
- The Registry agrees to adhere to the Clause 6 ‘Mandatory Rights Protection Mechanisms’ and Clause 7 ‘Protection for Marks in Clearinghouse’ of the Trademark Clearinghouse attachment to the AGB.
- The Registry shall also take reference to the Trademark Notice as attached in the same document.
- The Registry has allocated budget as cost of sales to pay Trademark Clearinghouse for the Trademark Claims and Sunrise service.

By the use of these phases we grant priority access to domain registrations to companies and individuals with rights over specific domains. If a party holds rights over a certain string, they may register the corresponding domain in the Sunrise phase before anyone else. On the other hand, for special circumstances rightful owners may request a domain in the Landrush phase without being subject to the First Come First Serve basis. This opportunity gives rights to rightful owners to participate for the registration without priority, but whithout the hassle of timeframes.


Relief mechanisms

1) Resolution policies adopted: Registry will adopt Resolution policies as per ICANN indications

- URS: The Uniform Rapid Suspension process will be implemented by the Registry to allow for rapid takedown of abusive regsitrations. The Registry will cooperate with ICANN for the implementation of URS, shall the policies and procedures are finalized. The involvement of the registry for the scope of URS shall include the following:
- Upon completion of the Administrative Review, the URS Provider will immediately notify the registry (via email) (“Notice of Compliant”) after the Compliant has deemed compliant with the filing requirements. Within 24 hours of receipt of the Notice of Complaint from the URS Provider, the registry shall “lock” the domain name, meaning the registry shall restrict all changes to the registration data, including transfer and deletion of the domain names, but the name will continue to resolve. The registry will notify the URS provider immediately upon locking the domain name (“Notice of Lock”).
- If after the Examination in Default case, the Examiner rules in favor of the Registrant, the URS provider shall notify the registry. Upon receiving the official notice from the URS provider, the registry will unblock the name and return full control of the domain name registration to the Registrant.
If the Determination is in favor of the Complainant, upon receiving the official decision from the URS provider, the registry will suspend the domain name, which shall remain suspended for the balance of the registration period and would not resolve to the original web site. The nameservers shall be re-directed to an informational web page provided by the USR Provider.
- The Registry will incorporate URS into the Registration policies, as a takedown measures and procedures to minimize abusive registration.

Alternative use of Rapid Takedown Dispute Resolution Policies: In the absence of URS, the Registry may provide a Rapid Takedown process through engagement with a dispute resolution provider that consists of a response team of qualified expert (qualified UDRP panelist). The Registry agrees that majority of cases that go through the Uniform Dispute Resolution Process (UDRP) are mainly obvious variant of well-known marks. As such, it would be a waste of time or resources for the most obvious cases of infringement to go through the UDRP filings. Registry may provide a rapid takedown process where a response team of qualified experts (qualified UDRP panellists) will be involved to determine within 48 hours of receipt of a short and simple claim of involving a well-known mark or otherwise inherently distinctive mark and a domain name where no conceivable good faith basis exists. The results may result in an immediate termination of the domain name, but will not prejudice either party’s election to pursue other dispute mechanisms.


- UDRP: The UDRP will be adopted and Registrars will be required to comply to any and every determination made by the administrative entity handling any UDRP process. The Registry will adopt UDRP within the Registration Agreement and also be adopted by the registrars. Essentially, the UDRP is a policy between a registrar and its customer and is included in registration agreements for all ICANN-accredited registrars.


The policies mentioned above are relief measures that may be adopted by any person or company if rights have been violated through a domain registration. We will attend and implement the mentioned procedures in a strict manner.


Other mechanisms: As required be ICANN Registry will comply to the Trademark Notice Notification service. This service will be implemented for the first 60 days after general availability is open. The service will be fully provided by the Registry and the Registrars need not to worry about the implementation of the notices.


Resources:

The following resources will be employed by the Registry to promote the rightful behavior of registrants of domain names under the extension.

- Compliance executive: The compliance executive will serve as a leader of the implementation of rightful policies and mechanisms for domains under the extension.

Tasks of the Compliance executive related to rigths protection include:

a) Serving as the point of contact for any issues regarding processes like URS and UDRP. The Compliance officer will also execute decisions regarding the policies.
b) Promote the comunication of rights protection mechanisms among registrants and the general audience.
c) Participate and engage with ICANN regarding all compliance requests and policies to be implemented.
*Compliance officer will be in charge of setting up a single point of contact with information at the Registry website for rights protection issues.
*Compliance officer will be bound to a SLA as described later


Policy:

Registrar policy: Registry will also demand that a rights protection point of contact (may be the same abuse point of contact) be present at all accredited registrars and serve for:

a) Receiving any rights complaints about registrations.
b) Serving as the point of contact for any issues regarding processes like URS and UDRP.

Registrar policy: Registrar will be required to have terms and agreements with every registrant that strictly state what constitutes rights violations, restricts the same, and clearly states remedies available as mitigation to such behavior.

Reseller policy: Registrar will be required and bound by the Registrar agreement to represent any Reseller as if the actions of the Reseller were made by the Registrar itself. Registrar will also be required to have terms and agreements with every reseller that strictly control and instruct policies in the case of rights violations.

All other policies as instructed by ICANN and as found relevant to reduce unrightful domain Registrations.


Specific topics on rights protection

It is not the responsibility of the Registry to determine if a domain registration is rightful or not. For this purpose, Administrative entities and establishemnts have been set. The Registry will conform to policies and procedures but must not intevene in legal determinations whatsoever.

SLA for resolution of rights violation determinations: Registry will comply to timing as indicated in Dispute Resolution policies adopted by ICANN. The following SLAs will also be enforced:

- Reply to any rights violation claim: 12 hours
- Communication to all related parties of rights violation claim: 12 hours
- Compliance to any instructions given by Administrators panelists of other authorized personnel: 36 hours


Resource and Operation Plan

As this issue is heavily related to policy, resources constitute only means of executing the proposed mechanisms. For the implementation the following resources will be available:

- Compliance officer
- Operational executive (support)

These two persons will manage implement and track the execution of the proposed Abuse Mitigation measures.

On-hand resources:

- Registry team has run for almost 3 years Domain Registration Services that have been very successful in Colombia and in more than 10 countries around the world. Registry team will be comprised of experienced executives in the domain registration business from Central Comercializadora de Internet (ICANN Accredited Registrar). Resources are on hand for all the non technical operations of the Registry. On hand operational non technical resources for this task include:

- Project manager (Compliance officer)
- Operational executive (One of the two support specialists)
These resources are currently part of the team that runs Central Comercializadora de Internet (ICANN Accredited Registrar).

Resource activity plan:

As this task is strictly related with policy it will be the Registry team that will be in charge of this aspect.

From the Registry side, Project manager, support specialists, and Technical Leader will handle issues related to administrative control, non technical relationship with Registrars, relationship with ICANN, relationship with providers such as Qinetics, Policy monitoring and Management, etc. Registry team will fulfill all of the tasks and activities detailed above.