gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.art	Merchant Law Group LLP	merchantlaw.com	View

Question No. 18(b)

18(b).1 Goal

The goal of the .ART TLD is to provide a distinct online presence for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and entities that engage in the provision of services, products, or information related to art.


18(b).2 Innovation, Competition, and Differentiation

An ample supply of relevant .ART domains will be made available for interested persons and organizations to claim within the .ART domain space. Currently, there is no generic TLD specifically devoted to art. Instead, relevant online content related to art is dispersed among a variety of existing generic and country-code TLDs without the benefit of a unifying string.

The market for products, services, and information is changing. The Internet is now the foremost vehicle for marketing and communication worldwide. A .ART TLD will further help entities desiring to communicate about or provide products, services, or information about art to realize greater benefits and capitalize on more opportunities provided by the Internet. A .ART TLD presents an opportunity for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and related entities that engage in communicating about or providing products, services, or information about art to garner a more effective and differentiated online presence.

The .ART TLD will be a domain space which will be developed into the online standard for ideas, services, products, and information related to art.

The .ART TLD is a distinctive, succinct, and memorable TLD. MLG’s vision is to make .ART domain names prevalent among people, entities, and organizations that seek to communicate about or provide products, services, or information about art.

Many entities providing products and services related to art already have an established Internet presence. The .ART TLD allows for greater differentiation on the Internet, simplifies users’ choice when interacting and consuming art related online services, and offers new benefits and opportunities to anyone that engages in activities related to communicating about or providing products, services, or information about art. Any individual could be a prospective registrant and will be accorded all the opportunities and benefits of the .ART TLD.

A .ART TLD will provide a new, distinct channel for the consumption of art related Internet content by consumers. A .ART domain name will provide an enhanced platform for individuals and groups to broadcast and communicate about art related products, services, and information to an online population which now numbers over two billion.

The opportunity to carry out our mission and deliver our value proposition will always be contingent upon providing benefits that matter to our registrants, Internet users, and the online population. To that end, MLG will strive to ensure that the .ART TLD provides the best value for creating and developing an art related online presence. MLG’s long term strategy is to ensure that .ART domains become a “must-have” for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and other related entities that engage in activities related to communicating about or providing products, services, or information about art.

A .ART domain will be the “best bang for the buck” registration by providing the best value for creating and developing a distinct, clear, and credible art related online presence. MLG will ensure that .ART domains provide the best quality-to-price ratios by offering competitive registration pricing and leveraging the core competencies of MLG and CentralNic.

MLG believes that .ART registrants will offer a variety services and content related to art. .ART’s target markets are broad enough to maintain a financially viable TLD and distinct enough that the .ART TLD will not become ‘just another .info’. A .ART TLD will provide a unique space on the Internet for art information and services. It will allow anyone to register a domain name and post information about products and services related to art. MLG’s vision for the .ART TLD mirrors the Internet’s growth as a transformative technology that enables the free and unfettered flow of information.

The introduction of the .ART TLD to the Internet will increase competition, provide opportunities for differentiation, and promote innovation.

The .ART TLD will provide an alternative to the current TLDs by focusing on art related content and catering specifically to all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and related entities that engage in communicating about or providing products, services, or information about art. .ART will serve as a force for differentiation as a distinctive namespace that simplifies users’ choice to interact and communicate about art. MLG expects that users will be able to navigate to .ART domains and subdomains intuitively, saving them time and resources.

The .ART TLD will introduce more relevant domain names into the Internet domain space. This will increase competition which should compel other TLDs to increase the quality-to-price ratios of their online presence offerings.

MLG hopes that the use of .ART domains will increase differentiation on the Internet. It is expected that the .ART TLD will substantially meet the online needs of its registrants. One of MLG’s goals with the introduction of the .ART TLD is to ensure that our target market registrants do not have to engage in unnecessary defensive registrations with other generic TLDs and country code TLDs. MLG will be marketing and branding the .ART TLD using strategies that continuously support and enhance the .ART TLD value proposition. MLG will continually invest in the .ART TLD brand to ensure that .ART registrants have a strong incentive to maintain their websites with substantive, regularly updated content that will lead to unique and sustained web traffic.

Currently, it is difficult to find relevant and easily recognizable domain names from existing TLDs. Even if one is found, pricing is often prohibitive because the domain name is often only available on the secondary market. The .ART TLD will allow people, businesses, organizations, and entities with an interest in communicating about art to register a relevant domain name immediately and the freedom to develop as many uses for their .ART online presence as they can imagine. An ample supply of relevant, generic .ART domain names will be available immediately and the innovative uses for these domain names will pay dividends for the online community in ways that are not currently quantifiable.


18(b).3 User Experience

The .ART TLD will enhance users’ Internet experience.

MLG intends for users to perceive the .ART TLD as a trustworthy platform of online information about art. MLG will adopt industry leading standards and policies to provide a safe and legitimate Internet space, enhance user experience by mitigating security-associated risks. These risks and policies are further described in our responses to Questions 26, 27, 28 and 29.

MLG will adopt policies that develop the .ART TLD in a manner that provides an easily navigable and predictable domain name space--for example, ‘geographicalname.art’ for localized websites, and ‘product.art’ for websites related to specific products or services. All of this will enhance users’ experience online by lessening confusion when browsing and interacting online.


18(b).4 Registration Policies

The .ART TLD will adopt contemporary registration policies.

The .ART TLD will be open and unrestricted, allowing anyone to select an appropriate .ART domain name for their own legitimate purposes. Illegal uses of .ART domain names will not be tolerated. MLG will implement an Acceptable Use Policy as further described in response to Question 28, and will implement the UDRP, URS, and all other ICANN-required rights protection mechanisms. Further, MLG will implement additional rights protection mechanisms as described in response to Questions 28 and 29. The price point of .ART will help ensure that .ART domains are not abused but are competitive against other TLDs.


18(b).5 Privacy Policies

The .ART TLD will adopt contemporary privacy policies.

We recognize and affirm the need for security of private and personal information on the Internet. We also recognize that the operation of a TLD necessarily involves the collection of personal information. MLG intends for users to perceive the TLD as a trustworthy indicator of the source of online information and services. User trust is enhanced when users are confident that their private or confidential information is securely protected. We intend to minimize any risks to our registrants by maintaining industry standard protocols for the protection of the personal and confidential information of registrants. With respect to Whois data, MLG will comply with ICANN policies and otherwise to ensure that complete and accurate Whois information is readily accessible for every .ART domain name. Moreover, MLG will offer additional Whois verification of each registrant’s email address as discussed in response to Questions 26, 28 and 29. Still further, MLG and its partners will scan the websites in the .ART TLD periodically for malware infusion, and take appropriate action for the benefit of Internet users.

MLG will deploy DNSSEC and will comply with all of the other policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and⁄or via any Consensus Policy. And of course, MLG will comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to Internet security and the privacy of users’ confidential information. Furthermore, CentralNic already employs commercially reasonable practices with respect to the security of online transactions and users’ private or confidential information.

Our approach to privacy on the Whois service is two-fold:
1. Our Whois service is rate limited to prevent ʺdictionaryʺ attacks where attackers try to obtain large volumes of Whois records by making repeated queries.
2. Contact objects associated with natural (as opposed to legal) persons can ʺopt outʺ of display in the Whois service, though their information is still made available via the secure Searchable Whois Service (SWS). Additional details can be found in our response to Question 26.


18(b).6 Outreach and Communications

MLG will engage in extensive outreach initiatives and communications campaigns for the .ART TLD

The use of .ART domains will effectively communicate the availability of the TLD to the intended audience, not only for the specific purpose at hand but also for more general or intuitive purposes. For example, a user who first sees an advertisement for ‘service.art’ may later directly navigate to ‘company.art’ to search for other services of the company. In addition to MLG’s own specific efforts to communicate the new TLD to its intended audience, MLG expects that audience and relevant media to further communicate the TLD as they discover the many domain names, websites and services located at a .ART domain. As the first generic TLD targeted to the provision of services, products and information related to art, MLG expects a substantial degree of publicity and word-of-mouth marketing within its target markets.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.law	Merchant Law Group LLP	merchantlaw.com	View

Question No. 18(b)


18(b).1 Goal

The goal of the .LAW TLD is to provide a distinct online presence for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, associations, and other related entities that engage in the provision of legal information, legal services, and other law related activities.


18(b).2 Benefits, Innovation, Competition, and Differentiation

MLG will provide an ample supply of relevant and available domain names for interested persons and organizations to claim within the .LAW domain space. Currently, there is no generic TLD specifically devoted to the global legal industry, legal issues, or legal services. Instead, relevant online content is dispersed among a variety of the existing generic and country-code TLDs without any consistency or the benefit of a unifying string.

MLG believes that the .LAW TLD will help lawyers, law firms, legal industry professionals, the online community, and all other stakeholders realize greater benefits and capitalize on more opportunities provided by the Internet.

The market for legal services is changing. There is a significant trend for consumers to solely search for a lawyer through the Internet and this presents an opportunity for law firms with an effective online presence to connect with new clients online and differentiate themselves from their competition. An increasing number of individuals do and will primarily use the Internet to search for information regarding the law and legal services. Competition for clients is increasing as the number of legal professionals in english and non-english speaking countries increase and innovative Internet technologies further facilitate the globalization of legal industry commerce.

Lawyers, law firms, and related organizations that have an effective .LAW online presence that clearly communicates their specialities, strengths, and achievements will be able to differentiate themselves from the competition. Lawyers and law firms utilizing a .LAW domain name will be able to leverage this unique place on the World Wide Web by taking steps to increase online visibility, create compelling site designs and by taking proactive steps to ensure that their .LAW site has up-to-date substantive content that communicates and educates visitors on their specialities. These efforts will benefit the whole online community in addition to legal services consumers.

Law can be defined in numerous ways and as a system of rules and guidelines it has the capacity to shape politics, economics, and society in profound ways. The introduction of the .LAW TLD will not usurp any law or legal system nor will it adversely affect the political and economic realities of any stakeholder. As detailed in the mission statement, the .LAW TLD will be an enabling medium to facilitate effective and efficient law-related communication amongst all Internet users.

The .LAW TLD will be a specialized domain space which will be developed into the online standard for legal information, legal industry services, and law-related markets.

.LAW is a distinctive, succinct, and memorable TLD that epitomizes the global legal industry. The .LAW TLD will be utilized by legal professionals and related organizations to create, develop, and enhance their online presence, and to facilitate communication and the provision of services relating to law. MLG’s vision is to make .LAW domain names prevalent among people, entities, and organizations that supply and require goods, services and information related to law.

Every individual on earth is affected by legal systems. The .LAW TLD will foster a greater understanding of the legal systems of the world. Every individual is a prospective registrant and will be accorded all the opportunities and benefits of the .LAW TLD. A .LAW domain name will provide an enhanced platform for individuals and groups to broadcast and communicate law related knowledge, messages, and commentary to the online population which now numbers over two billion.

The opportunity to carry out our mission and deliver our value proposition will always be contingent upon providing benefits that matter to our registrants, Internet users, and the online population. To that end, MLG will strive to ensure that the .LAW TLD provides the best value for creating and developing a law-related online presence. MLG’s long term strategy is to ensure that .LAW domains become a “must-have” for law-related professionals, firms, businesses and organizations who endeavor to capitalize on the Internet’s global opportunities for electronic commerce, communication, marketing, and protection of brand identity.

A .LAW domain will be the “best bang for the buck” registration because it will provide the best value for creating and developing a distinct, clear and credible law-related online presence. MLG will ensure that .LAW domains provide the best quality-to-price ratios by offering competitive registration pricing and leveraging the core competencies of MLG and CentralNic.

A .LAW domain registration will ultimately be a “must have” component to any online business or marketing strategy of legal professionals, law firms, law students or law-related organizations. MLG and CentralNic have a comprehensive marketing strategy in place to appropriately target each relevant market, garner a critical number of registrants in the first three years of operations, and build a .LAW brand image that complements and enhances the online presence goals of all .LAW registrants.

In order to achieve these goals, MLG will provide a trusted and secure domain space, with industry standard service levels. MLG has chosen CentralNic as its back-end registry services provider, with the confident expectation that CentralNic will deliver world class services to MLG and all .LAW domain registrants and users. To date, CentralNic has had a near faultless record of 100% up time for all domain names that it services.

MLG believes that .LAW registrants will offer a variety of services and content related to the law. .LAW‘s initial target markets are broad enough to maintain a financially viable TLD and distinct enough that the .LAW TLD will not become ‘just another .info’. A .LAW TLD will provide a unique space on the Internet for legal information and services. It will allow anyone to register a domain name and post information about the law. It will be a place for law firms and legal professionals to market their services. It will offer a way for businesses and other entities to earmark their legal information and notices for the public. MLG’s vision for the .LAW TLD mirrors the Internet’s growth as a transformative technology that enables the free and unfettered flow of information and ideas.

The introduction of the .LAW TLD to the Internet will increase competition, provide opportunities for differentiation, and promote Innovation.

The .LAW TLD will provide an alternative to the current TLDs by focusing on the general topic of law and catering specifically to legal professionals and service providers. .LAW will serve as a force for differentiation as a distinctive namespace that simplifies users’ choice to interact and communicate about legal topics. MLG expects that users will be able to navigate to .LAW domains and subdomains intuitively saving them time and resources.

The .LAW TLD will introduce more relevant domain names into the Internet domain space. This will increase competition which will hopefully compel other TLDs to increase the quality-to-price ratios of their online presence offerings.

MLG hopes that the use of .LAW domains will increase differentiation on the Internet. It is expected that the .LAW TLD will substantially meet the online needs of its registrants. One of MLG’s goals with the introduction of the .LAW TLD is to ensure that our target market registrants do not have to engage in unnecessary defensive registrations with other generic TLDs and country code TLDs.

MLG will be marketing and branding the .LAW TLD using strategies that continuously support and enhance the .LAW TLD value proposition. MLG will continually invest in the .LAW TLD brand to ensure that .LAW registrants have a strong incentive to maintain their websites with substantive, regularly updated law-related content that will lead to unique and sustained web traffic.

Currently it is difficult to find relevant and easily recognizable domain names from existing TLDs. Even if one is found, pricing is prohibitive because the domain name is only available on the secondary market. The .LAW TLD will allow people and entities with an interest in communicating about law to register a relevant domain name immediately and the freedom to develop as many uses for their .LAW online presence as they can imagine. An ample supply of relevant, generic .LAW domain names will be available immediately and the innovative uses for these domain names will pay dividends for the online community in ways that are not currently quantifiable.


18(b).3 User Experience

The .LAW TLD will enhance the users’ Internet experience.

The .LAW TLD will function with leading-edge technologies and adopt business practices that ensure a trustworthy and positive user experience. MLG will work with registrants and relevant stakeholders through a .LAW Advisory Board that will continuously garner feedback, advice, and suggestions and when appropriate, suggest practices, technology, and policies that help meet and exceed the expectations of .LAW TLD users. One of MLG’s goals for the .LAW TLD is to ensure that the .LAW online infrastructure, aggregation of websites, and services encourages Internet users to interact online with each other regarding issues of law and legal services.

MLG intends for users to perceive the .LAW TLD as a trustworthy platform of online information, goods, and services relevant to law. MLG will adopt industry leading standards and policies to provide a safe and legitimate Internet space and enhance user experience by mitigating security-associated risks which are further described in our responses to Questions 26, 27, 28 and 29.

MLG will adopt policies that develop the .LAW TLD in a manner that provides an easily navigable and predictable domain name space--for example, ‘geographicalname.law’ for localized websites, and ‘services.law’ for websites related to services relevant to law. All of this will enhance users’ experience online by lessening confusion when browsing and interacting online.


18(b).4 Registration Policies

The .LAW TLD will adopt contemporary registration policies.

The .LAW TLD will be open and unrestricted, allowing anyone to select an appropriate .LAW domain name for their own legitimate purposes. Illegal uses of .LAW domain names will not be tolerated. MLG will implement an Acceptable Use Policy as further described in response to Question 28, and also will implement the UDRP, URS and all other ICANN-required rights protection mechanisms. Further, MLG will implement additional rights protection mechanisms as described in response to Questions 28 and 29.

Registrants offering services not related to law will have lessened interest in the .LAW domain because .LAW has limited intuitive appeal outside the law realm. The price point of .LAW will help ensure that .LAW domains are not abused but remain competitive against other TLDs.


18(b).5 Privacy Policies

The .LAW TLD will adopt contemporary privacy policies.

We recognize and affirm the need for security of private and personal information on the Internet. We also recognize that the operation of a TLD necessarily involves the collection of personal information. MLG intends for users to perceive the TLD as a trustworthy indicator of the source of online information and services. User trust is enhanced when users are confident that their private or confidential information is securely protected. We intend to minimize any risks to our registrants by maintaining industry standard protocols for the protection of the personal and confidential information of registrants. With respect to Whois data, MLG will comply with ICANN policies and otherwise to ensure that complete and accurate Whois information is readily accessible for every .LAW domain name. Moreover, MLG will offer additional WHOIS verification of each registrant’s email address as discussed in response to Questions 26, 28, and 29. Still further, MLG will scan the websites in the .LAW TLD periodically for malware infusion, and take appropriate action for the benefit of internet users.

MLG will deploy DNSSEC and comply with all of the other policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and⁄or via any Consensus Policy. And of course, MLG will comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to Internet security and the privacy of users’ confidential information. Furthermore, CentralNic already employs commercially reasonable practices with respect to the security of online transactions and users’ private or confidential information.

Our approach to privacy on the Whois service is two-fold:
1. Our Whois service is rate limited to prevent ʺdictionaryʺ attacks where attackers try to obtain large volumes of Whois records by making repeated queries.
2. Contact objects associated with natural (as opposed to legal) persons can ʺopt outʺ of display in the Whois service, though their information is still made available via the secure Searchable Whois Service (SWS) Additional details can be found in our response to Question 26.


18(b).6 Outreach and Communications

MLG will engage in extensive outreach initiatives and communications campaigns for the .LAW TLD

The registration and use of .LAW domains will provide outreach and communicate the availability of the TLD to the intended audience, not only for the specific purpose at hand but also for more general or intuitive purposes. For example, a user who first sees an advertisement for ‘services.law’ may later directly navigate to ‘lawfirm.law’ to search for other services of the law firm. MLG and its partners have developed a comprehensive, multifaceted marketing plan for the launch and maintenance of the .LAW TLD into the long term. In addition to MLG’s own specific efforts to communicate the availability of the .LAW TLD to its intended audience, MLG expects the online community and relevant media to further communicate the TLD as they discover the many domain names, websites and services located at .LAW. As the first generic TLD targeted to the legal services market, MLG expects a substantial degree of publicity and word-of-mouth marketing within that market.