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29 Rights Protection Mechanisms

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.topJiangsu Bangning Science & Technology Co.,Ltd.55hl.comView
29. Rights Protection Mechanisms:

As described on Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement, “Registry Operator shall implement and adhere to any rights protection mechanisms (“RPMs”) that may be mandated from time to time by ICANN”.

Bearing this in mind, the Applicant will implement a proper Right Protection Mechanism (RPM) to safeguard trademark, geographic names and other naming rights based on the RPMs mandated by the Registry Agreement. At the startup stage, the Applicant will implement the Sunrise Period and Trademark Claims Service to honor the right of trademark owners. When the open registration begins, the Applicant will implement the reserved name policy to prohibit the registration of certain names. Likewise, in line with RAA, the Applicant would like its accredited registrars to perform registration verification to ensure the accuracy of the WHOIS information. This serves as an effective deterrence to potential abusive registrants, and the naming right of others can be properly protected. In the event of rights dispute, the Applicant will implement Uniform Rapid Suspension mechanism and instruct all domain name holders to observe Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy in settling their domain name dispute. The Applicant believes that along with the anti-abuse mechanisms described in the answer to Question 28, the RPM shall effectively protect the legal right holders and mitigate potential infringement.
29.1 Start-up rights protection measures
As required in the Applicant Guidebook, the Applicant will implement three start-up right protection mechanisms: the Sunrise Period, Landrush Period and Trademark Claims service.

Sunrise Service:

The Sunrise Service will be implemented as required by the Applicant Guidebook. The Applicant will implement a 30-day Sunrise service period for eligible trademark holders to register or reserve its names at the second-level of the “.STRING” TLD at the pre-launch period.

Before the Sunrise period, the Applicant will carry out a communication plan to promote the Sunrise Service. The Applicant will put up the Sunrise policies on its website.

Any registration request at the Sunrise Period will be screened by the Applicant to meet the Sunrise Eligibility requirements (SERs). The SERs requires the prospective registrant to demonstrate the following when registering a trademark name at the Sunrise Period:
(i) ownership of a mark;
(ii) representation that all provided information is true and correct; and
(iii) provision of data sufficient to document rights in the trademark.

Such materials submitted to the Applicant will be verified in the Trademark Clearinghouse. The Applicant will also send notice to holders of marks in the Clearinghouse that are Identical Matches to the name to be registered during Sunrise.

Should dispute arise in this period, the Applicant will implement a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP). The policy allows challenges based on at least the following four grounds:

(i) At the time the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant did not hold a trademark registration of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty;

(ii) The domain name is not identical to the mark on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration;

(iii) The trademark registration on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration is not of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; or

(iv) The trademark registration on which the domain name registrant based its Sunrise registration has not been issued on or before the effective date of the Registry Agreement and has not been applied for on or before ICANN acknowledged the receipt of the applications.

The Applicant will resort to its dispute resolution provider to settle the dispute. If the prospective registrant wins, the registrant will continue its Sunrise registration. If the prospective registrant loses, the Sunrise registration will be canceled.

If multiple applications for the same domain pass the verification, all successfully verified applicants will be invited to bid for that domain in an auction. Notification of the auction along with information about competing bidders will be made available to all bidders before the auction commences.

Landrush Service:

The Applicant intends to launch a sixty-day Landrush service shortly after the Sunrise Period.

Landrush service is the first opportunity for the public to register a “.STRING” domain. If a domain name is requested by more than one party, the domain will be subject to an auction in which all interested parties will be able to bid on the domain. If there is only one requester, the domain name will be registered to the requester at the end of the Landrush period.

English auctions will be adopted, which means that the highest bidder will receive the domain name.

There are two types of bidding:

1) Manual Bidding
In manual bidding, bidders need to closely follow the auction. Bidders will be notified of new higher bids and given 24 hours to submit a new bid.

2) Automated Bidding (Proxied Bidding)
The bidder can alternatively choose automated bidding. The system will automatically place a bid for the bidder with the set increment amount. The system will stop to place new bids if a bid ceiling set by the bidder is reached.

Multiple applicants for the same domain name at the Sunrise Period have equal opportunities to bid for preferred name.

Trademark Claims Service:

The Applicant will commit itself to offering the Trademark Claims Service at the initial open registration phase for 60 days pursuant to the requirement of the Applicant Guidebook.

The Applicant requires its accredited registrars to check every domain name registration against the Trademark Clearinghouse (through an interface with the Clearinghouse) during the Trademark Claims Service period.

If the domain name matches a name registered in the Clearinghouse, the registrar is required to send a Trademark Claims Notice (as described in the attachment to the Trademark Clearinghouse in the Applicant Guidebook) to the prospective registrant.

The Trademark Claims Notice to the prospective registrant warrants that: 1) the prospective registrant has received the notification that the mark(s) is included in the Clearinghouse; 2) the prospective registrant has received and understood the notice; and 3) to the best of the prospective registrant’s knowledge, the registration and use of the requested domain name will not infringe on the rights that are the subject of the notice.

The Trademark Claims Notice will provide the prospective registrant access to the Trademark Clearinghouse Database information referenced in the Trademark Claims Notice to enhance understanding of the Trademark rights being claimed by the trademark holder. These links (or other sources) shall be provided in real time without cost to the prospective registrant.

After receiving the signed copy of the Trademark Claims Notice, the registrar will process the registration request. By the time the domain name is registered, the registrar (again through an interface with the Clearinghouse) will promptly notify the mark holders(s) of the registration after it is effectuated.

29.2 Post-launch right protection measures
Pursuant to the Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement, the Applicant will comply with the following right protection mechanisms that may be revised from time to time:

a. the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (Trademark PDDRP) and the Registry Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) adopted by ICANN.; and

b. the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (“URS”) adopted by ICANN, including the implementation of determinations issued by URS examiners.

c. the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy adopted by ICANN as Consensus Policies.

The Trademark PDDRP and RRDRP

In the Registry Agreement, the Applicant agrees to implement and adhere to any remedies ICANN imposes (which may include any reasonable remedy, including for the avoidance of doubt, the termination of the Registry Agreement pursuant to Section 4.3(e) of the Registry Agreement) following a determination by any PDDRP or RRDRP panel and to be bound by any such determination.

In the event of the Trademark PDDRP and RRDRP, the Applicant as a gTLD Registry Operator will be acting as the respondent to complaints filed against itself.

In case of a complaint filed by a third-party claiming that its trademarks (registered or unregistered) have been infringed by the Applicant’s operations on the gTLD, the administrative proceeding will commence. If the Threshold Review Panel determines that the Complainant has standing and satisfied the criteria then the Provider will continue the proceeding on the merits.

The Applicant will file a Response to each Complaint within forty-five (45) days after the date of the Threshold Review Panel Declaration.

The Response will be filed with the Provider and the Provider must serve it upon the Complainant in electronic form with a hard-copy notice that it has been served.

If the Dispute Resolution Provider determines that the Applicant is liable under this Trademark PDDRP, the Dispute Resolution Provider may recommend a variety of graduated enforcement tools. ICANN shall have the authority to impose remedies at its discretion.

The Applicant will follow similar procedures to respond to the Provider of RRDRP and observe its determination.

The URS Procedure
The URS does not concern the Applicant as the gTLD Registry Operator. However, in the event of the Uniform Rapid Suspension dispute, the Applicant will fulfill the obligations as follows:

The Applicant will “lock” the domain name in question within 24 hours upon receipt of the “Notice of Complaint”, restricting all changes to the registration data, including transfer and deletion of the domain names, but the name will continue to be resolved.

After the “lock” operation, the Applicant will notify the URS Provider immediately.(Notice of Lock).

Immediately upon receipt of the Determination order from the URS Provider, the Applicant shall suspend the domain name, which shall remain suspended for the rest of the registration period and would not resolve to the original web site. The name servers will also be redirected to an informational web page provided by the URS Provider about the URS. The Whois for the domain name shall continue to display all of the information of the original Registrant except for the redirection of the name servers. In addition, the Whois shall reflect that the domain name will not be able to be transferred, deleted or modified for the life of the registration.

The successful Complainant may also be allowed by the Applicant to extend the registration period for one additional year at commercial rates.

Uniform Dispute Resolution Procedure

The UDRP requires all registrars to follow the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). Under the policy, most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration before a registrar cancels, suspends, or transfers a domain name. Disputes alleged to arise from abusive registrations of domain names (for example, cybersquatting) may be addressed by expedited administrative proceedings initiated by the owner of the trademark by filing a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution service provider.

To invoke the policy, a trademark owner should either:

(a) File a complaint in a court of proper jurisdiction against the domain-name holder (or where appropriate an in rem action concerning the domain name) or

(b) In cases of abusive registration submit a complaint to an approved dispute-resolution service provider.

Details of the UDRP are available for review at http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄dndr⁄udrp⁄policy.htm. The Applicant recommends that Complaints under the UDRP be submitted to Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center or any desired dispute-resolution service provider by the complaints. The listed providers can be visited at http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄dndr⁄udrp⁄approved-providers.htm.

The Applicant as the Registry Operator will also monitor the compliance of the registrars on the implementation of UDRP decisions.


29.5 Resourcing Plan

Given its close connection with the anti-abuse mechanisms, the Applicant would like to extend the resourcing plan placed in the answer to Question 28 will also be employed in the RPMs.

In summary, the Applicant will employ two staffs to handle complaints. A legal counsel will be tasked to take care of the anti-abuse activities and to determine the actions on domain name abuses.

The Back-End service provider will have a 20-staff Review and monitor team to audit the Whois accuracy; a 10-staff Emergency response team will be allocated to take swift and effective action to address the abuses. Details of the technical resourcing plan can be seen at answer to Question 42.

In terms of funding, please refer to the answer to question 47 for more details.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.wangZodiac Leo Limitedzodiac-corp.comView
29 Rights Protection Mechanisms:

As described on Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement, “Registry Operator shall implement and adhere to any rights protection mechanisms (“RPMs”) that may be mandated from time to time by ICANN”.

Bearing this in mind, the Applicant will implement a proper Right Protection Mechanism (RPM) to safeguard trademark, geographic names and other naming rights based on the RPMs mandated by the Registry Agreement. At the startup stage, the Applicant will implement the Sunrise Period and Trademark Claims Service to honor the right of trademark owners. When the open registration begins, the Applicant will implement the reserved name policy to prohibit the registration of certain names. Likewise, in line with RAA, the Applicant would like its accredited registrars to perform registration verification to ensure the accuracy of the WHOIS information. This serves as an effective deterrence to potential abusive registrants, and the naming right of others can be properly protected. In the event of rights dispute, the Applicant will implement Uniform Rapid Suspension mechanism and instruct all domain name holders to observe Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy in settling their domain name dispute. The Applicant believes that along with the anti-abuse mechanisms described in the answer to Question 28, the RPM shall effectively protect the legal right holders and mitigate potential infringement.
29.1 Start-up rights protection measures
As required in the Applicant Guidebook, the Applicant will implement three start-up right protection mechanisms: the Sunrise Period, Landrush Period and Trademark Claims service.

Sunrise Service:

The Sunrise Service will be implemented as required by the Applicant Guidebook. The Applicant will implement a 30-day Sunrise service period for eligible trademark holders to register or reserve its names at the second-level of the “.STRING” TLD at the pre-launch period.

Before the Sunrise period, the Applicant will carry out a communication plan to promote the Sunrise Service. The Applicant will put up the Sunrise policies on its website.

Any registration request at the Sunrise Period will be screened by the Applicant to meet the Sunrise Eligibility requirements (SERs). The SERs requires the prospective registrant to demonstrate the following when registering a trademark name at the Sunrise Period:
(i) ownership of a mark;
(ii) representation that all provided information is true and correct; and
(iii) provision of data sufficient to document rights in the trademark.

Such materials submitted to the Applicant will be verified in the Trademark Clearinghouse. The Applicant will also send notice to holders of marks in the Clearinghouse that are Identical Matches to the name to be registered during Sunrise.

Should dispute arise in this period, the Applicant will implement a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP). The policy allows challenges based on at least the following four grounds:

(i) At the time the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant did not hold a trademark registration of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty;

(ii) The domain name is not identical to the mark on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration;

(iii) The trademark registration on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration is not of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; or

(iv) The trademark registration on which the domain name registrant based its Sunrise registration has not been issued on or before the effective date of the Registry Agreement and has not been applied for on or before ICANN acknowledged the receipt of the applications.

The Applicant will resort to its dispute resolution provider to settle the dispute. If the prospective registrant wins, the registrant will continue its Sunrise registration. If the prospective registrant loses, the Sunrise registration will be canceled.

If multiple applications for the same domain pass the verification, all successfully verified applicants will be invited to bid for that domain in an auction. Notification of the auction along with information about competing bidders will be made available to all bidders before the auction commences.

Landrush Service:

The Applicant intends to launch a sixty-day Landrush service shortly after the Sunrise Period.

Landrush service is the first opportunity for the public to register a “.STRING” domain. If a domain name is requested by more than one party, the domain will be subject to an auction in which all interested parties will be able to bid on the domain. If there is only one requester, the domain name will be registered to the requester at the end of the Landrush period.

English auctions will be adopted, which means that the highest bidder will receive the domain name.

There are two types of bidding:

1) Manual Bidding
In manual bidding, bidders need to closely follow the auction. Bidders will be notified of new higher bids and given 24 hours to submit a new bid.

2) Automated Bidding (Proxied Bidding)
The bidder can alternatively choose automated bidding. The system will automatically place a bid for the bidder with the set increment amount. The system will stop to place new bids if a bid ceiling set by the bidder is reached.

Multiple applicants for the same domain name at the Sunrise Period have equal opportunities to bid for preferred name.

Trademark Claims Service:

The Applicant will commit itself to offering the Trademark Claims Service at the initial open registration phase for 60 days pursuant to the requirement of the Applicant Guidebook.

The Applicant requires its accredited registrars to check every domain name registration against the Trademark Clearinghouse (through an interface with the Clearinghouse) during the Trademark Claims Service period.

If the domain name matches a name registered in the Clearinghouse, the registrar is required to send a Trademark Claims Notice (as described in the attachment to the Trademark Clearinghouse in the Applicant Guidebook) to the prospective registrant.

The Trademark Claims Notice to the prospective registrant warrants that: 1) the prospective registrant has received the notification that the mark(s) is included in the Clearinghouse; 2) the prospective registrant has received and understood the notice; and 3) to the best of the prospective registrant’s knowledge, the registration and use of the requested domain name will not infringe on the rights that are the subject of the notice.

The Trademark Claims Notice will provide the prospective registrant access to the Trademark Clearinghouse Database information referenced in the Trademark Claims Notice to enhance understanding of the Trademark rights being claimed by the trademark holder. These links (or other sources) shall be provided in real time without cost to the prospective registrant.

After receiving the signed copy of the Trademark Claims Notice, the registrar will process the registration request. By the time the domain name is registered, the registrar (again through an interface with the Clearinghouse) will promptly notify the mark holders(s) of the registration after it is effectuated.

29.2 Post-launch right protection measures
Pursuant to the Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement, the Applicant will comply with the following right protection mechanisms that may be revised from time to time:

a. the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (Trademark PDDRP) and the Registry Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) adopted by ICANN.; and

b. the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (“URS”) adopted by ICANN, including the implementation of determinations issued by URS examiners.

c. the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy adopted by ICANN as Consensus Policies.

The Trademark PDDRP and RRDRP

In the Registry Agreement, the Applicant agrees to implement and adhere to any remedies ICANN imposes (which may include any reasonable remedy, including for the avoidance of doubt, the termination of the Registry Agreement pursuant to Section 4.3(e) of the Registry Agreement) following a determination by any PDDRP or RRDRP panel and to be bound by any such determination.

In the event of the Trademark PDDRP and RRDRP, the Applicant as a gTLD Registry Operator will be acting as the respondent to complaints filed against itself.

In case of a complaint filed by a third-party claiming that its trademarks (registered or unregistered) have been infringed by the Applicant’s operations on the gTLD, the administrative proceeding will commence. If the Threshold Review Panel determines that the Complainant has standing and satisfied the criteria then the Provider will continue the proceeding on the merits.

The Applicant will file a Response to each Complaint within forty-five (45) days after the date of the Threshold Review Panel Declaration.

The Response will be filed with the Provider and the Provider must serve it upon the Complainant in electronic form with a hard-copy notice that it has been served.

If the Dispute Resolution Provider determines that the Applicant is liable under this Trademark PDDRP, the Dispute Resolution Provider may recommend a variety of graduated enforcement tools. ICANN shall have the authority to impose remedies at its discretion.

The Applicant will follow similar procedures to respond to the Provider of RRDRP and observe its determination.

The URS Procedure
The URS does not concern the Applicant as the gTLD Registry Operator. However, in the event of the Uniform Rapid Suspension dispute, the Applicant will fulfill the obligations as follows:

The Applicant will “lock” the domain name in question within 24 hours upon receipt of the “Notice of Complaint”, restricting all changes to the registration data, including transfer and deletion of the domain names, but the name will continue to be resolved.

After the “lock” operation, the Applicant will notify the URS Provider immediately.(Notice of Lock).

Immediately upon receipt of the Determination order from the URS Provider, the Applicant shall suspend the domain name, which shall remain suspended for the rest of the registration period and would not resolve to the original web site. The name servers will also be redirected to an informational web page provided by the URS Provider about the URS. The Whois for the domain name shall continue to display all of the information of the original Registrant except for the redirection of the name servers. In addition, the Whois shall reflect that the domain name will not be able to be transferred, deleted or modified for the life of the registration.

The successful Complainant may also be allowed by the Applicant to extend the registration period for one additional year at commercial rates.

Uniform Dispute Resolution Procedure

The UDRP requires all registrars to follow the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). Under the policy, most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration before a registrar cancels, suspends, or transfers a domain name. Disputes alleged to arise from abusive registrations of domain names (for example, cybersquatting) may be addressed by expedited administrative proceedings initiated by the owner of the trademark by filing a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution service provider.

To invoke the policy, a trademark owner should either:

(a) File a complaint in a court of proper jurisdiction against the domain-name holder (or where appropriate an in rem action concerning the domain name) or

(b) In cases of abusive registration submit a complaint to an approved dispute-resolution service provider.

Details of the UDRP are available for review at http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄dndr⁄udrp⁄policy.htm. The Applicant recommends that Complaints under the UDRP be submitted to Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center or any desired dispute-resolution service provider by the complaints. The listed providers can be visited at http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄dndr⁄udrp⁄approved-providers.htm.

The Applicant as the Registry Operator will also monitor the compliance of the registrars on the implementation of UDRP decisions.


29.5 Resourcing Plan

Given its close connection with the anti-abuse mechanisms, the Applicant would like to extend the resourcing plan placed in the answer to Question 28 will also be employed in the RPMs.

In summary, the Applicant will employ two staffs to handle complaints. A legal counsel will be tasked to take care of the anti-abuse activities and to determine the actions on domain name abuses.

The Back-End service provider will have a 20-staff Review and monitor team to audit the Whois accuracy; a 10-staff Emergency response team will be allocated to take swift and effective action to address the abuses. Details of the technical resourcing plan can be seen at answer to Question 42.

In terms of funding, please refer to the answer to question 47 for more details.