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
.club	Merchant Law Group LLP	merchantlaw.com	View

Question No. 18(b)

18(b).1 Goal

The goal of the .CLUB TLD is to provide a distinct online presence for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and other related entities that engage in activities related to the creation, promotion, and ongoing existence of clubs in all their varieties.


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

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

Consumers have changed. The Internet is now the vehicle through which consumers find information, products, and services of all varieties. A .CLUB TLD will help clubs and club related organizations to capitalize on the opportunities provided by the Internet. A .CLUB TLD presents an opportunity for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and other related entities that engage in activities related to clubs to garner a more effective and differentiated online presence.

The .CLUB TLD will be a specialized domain space which will be developed into the online standard for clubs and club related products and services.

The .CLUB TLD is a distinctive, succinct, and memorable TLD that epitomizes club related industries and communities across numerous different languages. MLG’s vision is to make .CLUB domain names prevalent among people, entities, and organizations that are clubs or that provide club related products, services, and information.

Many clubs and related organizations already have some online presence. However, a .CLUB TLD allows for greater differentiation on the Internet, simplifies users’ choice when searching for and interacting with club related content online, and offers new benefits and opportunities to anyone that engages in club related activities.

A .CLUB TLD will create a level playing field for club related organizations online by providing a new, distinct channel for the consumption of club related content by consumers. A .CLUB domain name will provide an enhanced platform for individuals and groups to broadcast and communicate club 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 .CLUB TLD provides the best value for creating and developing a club related online presence. MLG’s long term strategy is to ensure that .CLUB domains become a “must-have” for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and related entities that engage in activities related to the creation, promotion, or ongoing existence and operation of clubs of all varieties.

A .CLUB domain will be the “best bang for the buck” registration by providing the best value for creating and developing a distinct, clear, and credible club related online presence. MLG will ensure that .CLUB 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 .CLUB registrants will offer a variety services and content related to clubs. .CLUB’s target markets are broad enough to maintain a financially viable TLD and distinct enough that the .CLUB TLD will not become ‘just another .info’. A .CLUB TLD will provide a unique space on the Internet for club information and services. It will allow anyone to register a domain name and use that online space to provide information, products and services. MLG’s vision for the .CLUB TLD mirrors the Internet’s growth as a transformative technology that enables the free and unfettered flow of information.

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

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

The .CLUB 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 .CLUB domains will increase differentiation on the Internet. It is expected that the .CLUB TLD will substantially meet the online needs of its registrants. One of MLG’s goals with the introduction of the .CLUB 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 .CLUB TLD using strategies that continuously support and enhance the .CLUB TLD value proposition. MLG will continually invest in the .CLUB TLD brand to ensure that .CLUB 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 can be prohibitive because the desired domain name is often only available on the secondary market. The .CLUB TLD will allow people, businesses, organizations and entities with an interest in communicating about clubs to register a relevant domain name immediately and the freedom to develop as many uses for their .CLUB online presence as they can imagine. An ample supply of relevant, generic .CLUB 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 .CLUB TLD will enhance users’ Internet experience.

The .CLUB 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 .CLUB 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 .CLUB TLD users. One of MLG’s goals for the .CLUB TLD is to ensure that the .CLUB online infrastructure and aggregation of websites and services encourages Internet users to interact online more frequently and rely on .CLUB domains for all their club related needs and interests.

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

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


18(b).4 Registration Policies

The .CLUB TLD will adopt contemporary registration policies.

The .CLUB TLD will be open and unrestricted, allowing anyone to select an appropriate .CLUB domain name for their own legitimate purposes. Illegal uses of .CLUB 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 intends to implement additional rights protection mechanisms as described in response to Questions 28 and 29. Registrants offering services not related to clubs will have lessened interest in the .CLUB domain because .CLUB has limited intuitive appeal outside the realm of a club. The price point of .CLUB will help ensure that .CLUB domains are not abused but are competitive against other TLDs.


18(b).5 Privacy Policies

The .CLUB 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 desires users to perceive the .CLUB 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 intends to comply with ICANN policies and otherwise to ensure that complete and accurate Whois information is readily accessible for every .CLUB domain name. Moreover, MLG intends to 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 intends to scan the websites in the .CLUB 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 .CLUB TLD.

The use of .CLUB 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 ‘productname.club’ may later directly navigate to ‘company.club’ to search for other products of the producer. 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 .CLUB domains. As the first generic TLD targeted to clubs of all varieties, MLG expects a substantial degree of publicity and word-of-mouth marketing within its target markets.