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

Prototypical answer:

The goal of the proposed gTLD, .SHOP, is to provide worldwide excellence standards for best practices in the areas of consumer trust and privacy and security for registrants, internet users, and others. This will be addressed through the online shopping mechanisms included in the URL registration process through .SHOP. .SHOP will offer an exclusive extended verification process, and a new process patent is in the works to ensure accuracy in domain name ownership. Shoppers will know ownership of online retail stores in the .SHOP registry, and .SHOP will ensure e-commerce compliance with data security standards (e.g., PCI, ISO17799). A portion of every registration payment received will go to a charitable foundation, allowing for social entrepreneurship. Commercial Connect LLC has presented and made known the mission of .SHOP to key trade organizations that represent the global ecosystem of e-commerce. Our mission is to foster and encourage solid policy-making and open standards of excellence tied to e-commerce participants, including corporate, small business, and other supporting organizations. ICANN will be identified as a concerned stakeholder and solution provider for global e-commerce, as well as a player in the new foundation to be created to benefit world charities that make a difference in global economies of scale for the underprivileged through education, and fighting world hunger. We anticipate this could exceed in excess of $1 million each year annually and invite ICANN to participate in giving back to the world with agreed upon charities and causes.

.SHOP adds significant intuitive organization to the existing internet we know today. It will provide a direct conduit to eCommerce users. In other words, anyone wishing to purchase something on the internet would use the .SHOP TLD and an intuitive choice to take them directly to products.

If our marketing efforts are realized (please see marketing plan attached to application) even the most casual users of the internet will recognize the .SHOP TLD and use it in everyday shopping online. In addition they will understand why using .SHOP is safer due to the verification process and required use of SSL connectivity.

Government Relations
A secure and stable Internet is our number one priority, so we engage policymakers on all levels regarding legislation that affects it.

.SHOP Domain Names Registration Policies
Commercial Connect manages the authoritative registry (“Registry”) for all domain name registrations that end in “.SHOP”. The below registry policies govern the registration of domain names. Commercial Connect reserves the right to modify or amend these policies and any other policies regarding .SHOP at any time. Registrars should review the policies from time to time and any modifications made thereto. Modifications to these policies are effective as of the date and time they are posted on the Commercial Connect site.

Since Commercial Connect represents the e-commerce community, its purpose is to have a top-level domain namespace that encourages and supports -commerce.

The primary audience for this namespace is “business-to-consumer ecommerce.” The applicant information will be fully published as this is a business based TLD and not that of a private individual.

There are multiple reasons why a website operator (the ʺBusinessʺ) would want to use a new .SHOP top-level domain name. The first reason is that it will become more intuitive to the end user (the ʺConsumerʺ). If they want to purchase products and⁄or services, then they should instinctively use the .SHOP extension. If a multitude of new gTLD strings emerge onto the market, .SHOP will especially become a more apparent choice. That, coupled with our extensive marketing efforts will help to convince the Consumer that .SHOP is the domain namespace to use for purchasing products and⁄or services online.

Process Patent Pending Verification for .SHOP
Because Commercial Connect will be performing process patent pending verification on .SHOP applicants, there will be a more reliable and trustworthy indication that the registrant (the ʺBusinessʺ) is who they claim to be. While this will not prevent the registrant from engaging in negative business practices, it will help to ensure that their identity is known should legal action become necessary in the future. As a result, this identification will reduce fraud and make less favorable business practices exist only in namespaces other than ones that are stringently verified.

In order for an applicant to be considered “qualified” to purchase a .SHOP top-level domain name, they must go through a strict verification process where Commercial Connect researches the identity of that applicant and his business using semi-automated process patent pending processes. Once the registrant is “verified,” they are assigned a contact ID which will, then, allow them to register a .SHOP domain name.

Availability
The registration of a domain name is available to businesses. A domain name that is available at the time a Registrar runs the CHECK command does not guarantee that the domain name will be available at the time of registration.

Requirements for the applicant initially will be an agreement that the website will be offering goods and⁄or services under a secured socket layer (SSL) trusted connection. This site must be functional within six months of registration or the registrant could forfeit his rights to said domain name. There may be additional circumstances whereby it will not be required that the registrant of a .SHOP domain name have a functioning e-commerce site. These cases exist for trademark holders and users that forward their trade names to existing websites utilizing other TLDs. Generic .SHOP domain names should be e-commerce site-enabled and not forwarded to other sites.

Term
A domain name is registered in one-year increments, with a minimum registration term of one year and a maximum registration term of 10 years.
Verified applicants will agree to the understanding that if they are operating a business and utilizing a .SHOP domain name that holds them accountable for all transactions performed on this website. This is essential so that one party or registrar does not register themselves in an attempt to thwart our verification process. In addition, a clause in the registrar agreement will require that registrants not attempt to hide, mask, or alter the identity of any .SHOP registrant.

Naming Restrictions
The minimum character length for a domain name is one character, excluding the .SHOP extension. The maximum character length for a domain name is 254 characters excluding the extension. A domain name must not begin with a dash ʺ-ʺ or dot “.” and must also not begin with the following sequence: “alphanumeric_alphanumeric_dash (“-“)_dash (“-”)”.

Each character in the domain name, excluding the dots (“.”)s must be a letter or digit or dash (“-”). The last character must be a digit or a letter. It cannot be a dash (“-”).

.SHOP Premium Domain Names
Certain .SHOP domain names that are generic or common words, and one- to three- character combinations have been designated as ʺPremium Names.ʺ Premium Names have the same business rules and grace periods as all domain names with the following exceptions:
• Premium Names may have higher pricing than standard domain names.
• Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, Registrar transfers for Premium Names are prohibited.
• Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the Sync operation for Premium Names is prohibited.

Name Servers
A domain name cannot have more than 13 hosts at the registry level.

Registrar Transfer Rules
A created domain name must be 61 days old or older to be available for transfer between Registrars. A domain name can be transferred in one-year increments from one to 10 years. A one-year renewal is the default setting. If the difference between the current date and the new registration date is more than 10 years but less than 11 years, then the transfer will be clipped to 10 years. If the difference between the current date and the new registration date is greater than 11 years, the transfer will be rejected. The pending-transfer period is five (5) days. If the transfer request is neither approved nor rejected by the losing Registrar within the five-day pending-transfer period, Commercial Connect will automatically approve the request. As stated above, Registrar transfers of Premium Names are prohibited.

Bulk Transfers
Subject to Commercial Connect’s discretion and approval, and any transfer fees or charges that may be assessed by Commercial Connect, Registrars may request bulk transfers of .SHOP domain names by submitting a bulk transfer request in writing accompanied by a complete list of the domain names to be transferred. The request must be signed by both the gaining and losing Registrars.

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