29 Rights Protection Mechanisms

Prototypical answer:

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.淡马锡Temasek Holdings (Private) Limtiedtemasek.com.sgView

The answer is based on information provided by the Service Provider appointed by the Applicant

Rights protection is a core responsibility of the TLD operator, and is supported by a fully-developed plan for rights protection that includes:

Establishing mechanisms to prevent unqualified registrations (e.g., registrations made in violation of the registry’s eligibility restrictions or policies);
Implementing a robust Sunrise program, utilizing the Trademark Clearinghouse, the services of one of ICANN’s approved dispute resolution providers, a trademark validation agent, and drawing upon sunrise policies and rules used successfully in previous gTLD launches;
Implementing a professional trademark claims program that utilizes the Trademark Clearinghouse, and drawing upon models of similar programs used successfully in previous TLD launches;
Complying with the URS requirements;
Complying with the UDRP;
Complying with the PDDRP, and;
Including all ICANN-mandated and independently developed rights protection mechanisms (“RPMs”) in the registry-registrar agreement entered into by ICANN-accredited registrars authorized to register names in the TLD.

The response below details the rights protection mechanisms at the launch of the TLD (Sunrise and Trademark Claims Service) which comply with rights protection policies (URS, UDRP, PDDRP, and other ICANN RPMs), outlines additional provisions made for rights protection, and provides the resourcing plans.

Considering the fact that, at least initially, .淡马锡 will be a single registrant TLD, a number of internal safeguards will be put in place by the Applicant in order to allocate domain names. Currently, we envisage this process to be as follows:

1. an internal committee will be established, consisting of representatives from Applicant’s Corporate Affairs, legal, finance and strategic relations divisions will establish various lists of domain names, including:
o a list of domain names that will be registered in the name of and delegated to the Registry Operator; and
o a list of domain names that will not be registered or delegated;

2. on a temporary basis, this committee will review the domain names on the different lists, and may add or remove domain names from such lists;

3. every domain name that is put on a list of domain names that are likely to be registered and delegated, and who will ultimately also resolve, will be subject to a trademark availability check. Such a check may be performed by querying:

a. publicly available trademark databases, and
b. the trademarks that are contained in the Trademark Clearinghouse.

4. the list of domain names registered in the name of the Applicant will be referred to as such in the .TEMASEK WHOIS database, including the time and date on which the clearance check has been performed;

5. if need be, the Applicant will perform additional trademark clearance checks on a temporary basis, this in order to ensure that no domain names have been registered and are being used in bad faith, and that the Applicant only registers domain names in its own name in which it holds a right or legitimate interest.

a. For the avoidance of doubt, the Applicant claims a legitimate interest in domain names that contain a generic description of the Applicant’s products and services offered in its normal course of business.

These domain names will be associated with such generic products, services, information and content. Their WHOIS record will provide for an indication and qualification of the context in which they are used.

All contacts associated with the domain names that are registered and delegated to the Applicant (i.e., administrative, technical and billing contact) will be associated with the Applicant, the Registry Operator.

If and when the Applicant would decide to allow third parties to register domain names in the .淡马锡 TLD, a phased process will be implemented for the release of certain domain names to eligible parties. During these phases, the following processes will be put in place:

1. First of all, eligibility requirements for domain name registrants in the .淡马锡 TLD will be determined, which could include the following:

o being a subsidiary of Temasek;
o being a partner, director, or employee of Temasek or a Temasek subsidiary;
o etc.

The Applicant may decide at its own discretion which types of eligible registrants can register domain names in the .TEMASEK TLD, and may even choose to do so in a phased manner.

2. Second, the scope of the domain names eligible parties are entitled to register will be set. This could include the following:

o a reference to the country or city in which they do business, in which case the eligible registrant and the Applicant will follow the procedures set out by ICANN and the Governmental Advisory Committee with respect to country names;

o their company name, including or excluding the reference to “Temasek”;

o any other business identifier, including or excluding the reference to “Temasek”;

o etc.

3. Third, for eligible parties outside of the network of the Applicant subsidiaries, such as subcontractors, clients, etc., their choice of domain names will be limited to their trademark only, as provided for in the requirements set out by ICANN for qualifying for the Trademark Clearinghouse.

Any variants or alternatives will need the prior written approval from the Applicant, and will be subject to additional (trademark clearance) checks if needed be.

4. Fourth, the process for allocating, registering and delegating these domain names will be monitored by the committee referred to above.

Also here, the Applicant will be entitled to determine at all times to associate some or all of the domain name contacts with the Applicant, the Registry Operator, or an Applicant subsidiary. This way, the Applicant or the Applicant subsidiary associated with the contact can determine the products, services and information offered by the domain name registrant in the .淡马锡 TLD, and in case of abuse of the domain name immediately intervene in order to suspend the domain name and its resolution, or even to cancel the domain name registration.

In addition to the mandatory sunrise and trademark claims processes imposed by ICANN in the Applicant Guidebook, the Applicant will allow third parties to file a complaint with the Complaints Point of Contact if they are of the opinion that a particular domain name:

- is identical or confusingly similar to their trademark;
- is of no direct or indirect interest to the registrant, in that sense that the registrant does not hold any rights or legitimate interests in such a domain name; and
- the domain name has been registered and⁄or is used in bad faith by the registrant.

We hereby refer to the conditions and requirements for filing a complaint under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy and the Uniform Rapid Suspension Policy.

In principle, filing such a complaint will be free of charge. The Applicant will, however, be entitled to charge the complainant a fee if the Applicant is of the opinion that a complaint is filed in a frivolous manner, or that the complainant (or a party with whom the complainant is working together) has entered into a pattern of filing frivolous complaints with the Complaints Point of Contact.

Safeguards for rights protection at the launch of the TLD
The launch of this TLD will include the operation of a trademark claims service according to the defined ICANN processes for checking a registration request and alerting trademark holders of potential rights infringement.

Ongoing rights protection mechanisms
Several mechanisms will be in place to protect rights in this TLD. As described in responses #27 and #28, measures are in place to ensure domain transfers and updates are only initiated by the appropriate domain holder, and an experienced team is available to respond to legal actions by law enforcement or court orders.

This TLD will conform to all ICANN RPMs including URS (defined below), UDRP, PDDRP, and all measures defined in Specification 7 of the new TLD agreement.


Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS)
The Applicant will implement decisions rendered under the URS on an ongoing basis. Per the URS policy posted on ICANN’s Web site as of this writing, the Applicant will receive notice of URS actions from the ICANN-approved URS providers. These emails will be directed immediately to the Applicant’s support staff, which is on duty 24x7. The support staff will be responsible for creating a ticket for each case, and for executing the directives from the URS provider. All support staff will receive pertinent training.

As per ICANN’s URS guidelines, within 24 hours of receipt of the notice of complaint from the URS provider, the Applicant shall “lock” the domain, meaning the registry shall restrict all changes to the registration data, including transfer and deletion of the domain names, but the name will remain in the TLD DNS zone file and will thus continue to resolve. The support staff will “lock” the domain by associating the following EPP statuses with the domain and relevant contact objects:
ServerUpdateProhibited, with an EPP reason code of “URS”
ServerDeleteProhibited, with an EPP reason code of “URS”
ServerTransferProhibited, with an EPP reason code of “URS”
The Applicant will then notify the URS provider immediately upon locking the domain name, via email.

The Applicant will retain all copies of emails from the URS providers, assign them a tracking or ticket number, and will track the status of each opened URS case through to resolution via spreadsheet or database.

The Applicant will execute further operations upon notice from the URS providers. The URS provider is required to specify the remedy and required actions of the Applicant, with notification to the registrant, the complainant, and the registrar.

As per the URS guidelines, if the complainant prevails, the “Applicant shall 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 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 nameservers. 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.”


Rights protection via the RRA

The following will be memorialized and be made binding via the Registry-Registrar and Registrar-Registrant agreements:

The registry may reject a registration request or a reservation request, or may delete, revoke, suspend, cancel, or transfer a registration or reservation under the following criteria:
c. to enforce registry policies and ICANN requirements; each as amended from time to time;
d. that is not accompanied by complete and accurate information as required by ICANN requirements and⁄or registry policies or where required information is not updated and⁄or corrected as required by ICANN requirements and⁄or registry policies;
e. to protect the integrity and stability of the registry, its operations, and the TLD system;
f. to comply with any applicable law, regulation, holding, order, or decision issued by a court, administrative authority, or dispute resolution service provider with jurisdiction over the registry;
g. to establish, assert, or defend the legal rights of the registry or a third party or to avoid any civil or criminal liability on the part of the registry and⁄or its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, representatives, employees, contractors, and stockholders;
h. to correct mistakes made by the registry or any accredited registrar in connection with a registration; or
g. as otherwise provided in the Registry-Registrar Agreement and⁄or the Registrar-Registrant Agreement.


Reducing opportunities for behaviors such as phishing or pharming

In our response to question #28, the Applicant has described its anti-abuse program.
Rather than repeating the policies and procedures here, please see our response to question #28 for full details.

With specific respect to phishing and pharming, it should be noted by ICANN that this will be a single entity TLD in which Applicant has direct control over each registrant (they are typically on staff or otherwise contractually bound) and how each registration may be used. Further, there will be no open registration period for this TLD, as it will never be an “open” TLD. Since all criminal activity (such as phishing and pharming) is precluded by the mission, values and policies of the registry operator (and its parent organization), criminal activity is not expected to be a problem. If such activity occurs due to hacking or other compromises, the registry operator will take prompt and effective steps to eliminate the activity.

In the case of this TLD, Applicant will apply an approach that addresses registered domain names (rather than potentially registered domains). This approach will not infringe upon the rights of eligible registrants to register domains, and allows Applicant internal controls, as well as community-developed UDRP and URS policies and procedures if needed, to deal with complaints, should there be any.

The Service Provider is a member of various security fora which provide access to lists of names in each TLD which may be used for malicious purposes. Such identified names will be subject to the TLD anti-abuse policy, including rapid suspensions after due process.


Rights protection resourcing plans

Supporting RPMs requires several departments within the Applicant as well as within the Service Provider. The implementation of Sunrise and the Trademark Claims service and on-going RPM activities will pull from the 102 staff members of the engineering, product management, development, security and policy teams at the Service Provider and the Applicant. No additional hardware or software resources are required to support this as the Service Provider has fully-operational capabilities to manage abuse today.

Similar gTLD applications: (1)

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixzDetail
.temasekTemasek Holdings (Private) Limtiedtemasek.com.sg-3.65Compare