18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Prototypical answer:

18(b) Benefits of the .MEMORIAL Registry

The .MEMORIAL Registry will benefit registrants, Internet users, and the TLD space as a whole.

I. .MEMORIAL Goals

It is the stated goal of .MEMORIAL to provide special online memorials of loved ones for friends and family, creating an everlasting online tribute. The registrant benefits by being able to register a meaningful domain name in memory of that special loved one. Other Internet users; namely, friends and family, benefit by having a specific and meaningful domain name to visit, to possibly share their memories and interact with one another depending on how each individual website is designed. In addition, .MEMORIAL fills a niche that is not catered to by any existing TLDs, benefiting the TLD space as a whole.

.MEMORIAL understands that any proposed benefits are dependent on its ability to provide a secure and stable domain name registry service to its registrants. By partnering with Neustar, Inc to provide back-end services for the .MEMORIAL registry, we are confident in our ability to meet or exceed all security, stability, and technical standards. Neustar already possesses a production-proven registry system that can be quickly deployed and smoothly operated over its robust, flexible, and scalable world-class infrastructure. These existing registry services will be effectively leveraged for the .MEMORIAL registry. Neustar has demonstrated a strong track record of security and stability within the industry. .MEMORIAL will work closely and diligently with Neustar, ICANN, and registrars to ensure the highest levels of service are consistently provided to its registrants.

II. Addition of .MEMORIAL to the Current gTLD Space

Currently, there is no one within the TLD space that provides a personalized domain in memory of loved ones such as MyLovedOne.MEMORIAL. There are a few existing websites such as remembered.com or forevermissed.com that provide a similar service; however, it is much more personal and meaningful when an Internet user is able to register their own domain.MEMORIAL. If they use one of these existing “.com” websites, Internet users are lumped in with a bunch of other people and they have very little control over the user experience, making it very impersonal. With a .MEMORIAL domain, registrants are able to set up their website in any way they choose. The .MEMORIAL registry provides the registrant, their family, and their friends their very own special place to celebrate the life of that special loved one. By expanding the TLD space to include the .MEMORIAL registry, registrants wishing to secure a meaningful domain name in memory of a loved one have a much better chance of doing so. With over 100 million .com registrations, there is an ever-increasing lack of availability of useful and meaningful domain names. It has even been suggested that this “supply problem” could slow and impede the growth of the DNS environment, global communications, and e-commerce. The .MEMORIAL registry helps to alleviate this “supply problem” within its specific niche of creating everlasting online tributes. The combination of our very specific niche and heart-felt service to the Internet community differentiates us from other TLDs and will lead to healthier competition within the TLD space.

III. The .MEMORIAL User Experience

.MEMORIAL enhances the user experience by providing Internet users a place to privately visit with their lost loved ones from the comfort of their own homes on special days such as birthdays, anniversaries, praying with them on Sundays, or any other day they wish to share special memories or feelings. These Internet users; namely, friends and family, greatly benefit by having a specific and meaningful domain name to visit, possibly even sharing their memories and interacting with one another.

IV. .MEMORIAL Registration Policies

The .MEMORIAL registry will implement standard registration policies following international best practices to best inform and protect registrants, allowing anyone in the world to register a .MEMORIAL domain. There will be no specific business rules or limitations put on those wishing to register a .MEMORIAL domain, allowing for a simple and unencumbered registration process. The creation of the policies governing a new TLD is often one of those most daunting and time-consuming tasks; therefore, we are working closely with Neustar, our back-end registry services provider, and its policy and legal team, which has many years of domain industry experience, including specific experience in working with ICANN, constructing consensus policies, devising sunrise and land rush processes, and creating TLD specific policies. All policies will be in accordance with those outlined in the “Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement,” including, but not limited to, Specification 1 – Consensus Policies and Temporary Policies, Specification 5 – Schedule of Reserved Names at the Second Level in gTLD Registries, Specification 7 – Minimum Requirements for Rights Protection Mechanisms, and Specification 9 – Registry Operator Code of Conduct.

V. Protection of Privacy and Trademark Holders

A major concern regarding the creation of new TLDs has come from trademark holders and GAC (Governmental Advisory Committee) members who view the creation of additional TLDs as an increase in the potential for undesirable Internet activity and potentially forcing trademark holders to secure hundreds of new TLD domains to protect their intellectual property. Even though it is highly unlikely that a trademark holder would need to secure a .MEMORIAL domain, it is still a top priority of the .MEMORIAL registry to work diligently to protect the rights of trademark owners through the use of Sunrise and Trademark periods before live launch to the public, implementation of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), implementation of the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system, and implementation of a Thick WHOIS to make it easier for rights holders to identify and locate infringing parties. These policies are described in greater detail in response to Question 29 – Rights Protection Mechanisms.

The .MEMORIAL registry will work closely with Neustar, Inc., its Back-End Registry Operator, and ICANN to ensure that the privacy and confidential information of its registrants and users is protected. Neustar has a proven track record of compliance with high security standards, implementing highly developed security policies, and high levels of registry security that include: multiple redundant data centers, multiple security layer architecture, diversified firewall and networking hardware vendors, physical security access controls, and a 24x7 manned Network Operations Center that monitors all systems and applications and mitigates Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks using traffic scrubbing technologies. These security policies are described in greater detail in response to Question 30 – Security Policy.

VI. Outreach and Communications

The success of the .MEMORIAL registry is dependent upon raising consumer awareness about the availability, uniqueness, and benefits of the new .MEMORIAL TLD. Our marketing plan incorporates a variety of strategies, including a multitude of press releases, trade shows for the Internet community, viral marketing through our own .MEMORIAL websites and social media, online newsletters, and more traditional advertising through billboards, radio, and TV as our marketing budget allows. In addition, we will release multiple press releases in conjunction with Neustar that inform the public of the new .MEMORIAL TLD and the high level of security and stability provided by the .MEMORIAL registry with Neustar as the back-end operator.

Similar gTLD applications: (1)