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

Prototypical answer:

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.schaefflerSchaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGlemarit.comView

i. The .schaeffler top-level domain and its domain names are dedicated and thereby specialized to create content, facilitate communication, information and distribution in connection with the brand SCHAEFFLER between all parties involved in the business of Schaeffler.

The most important service level of the .schaeffler top-level-domain is the certainty for Internet users that all .schaeffler domain names are exclusively registered and maintained by a trusted source, Schaeffler. They will understand that only Schaeffler can register a domain name and all domain names which end on .schaeffler are owned by Schaeffler and not by someone who just pretends to be Schaeffler. Aim is that Internet users worldwide will be aware that domain names branded by the famous brand extension .schaeffler are a hoard of security, stability and reliability. This will lead to awareness among Internet users that .schaeffler is a trusted namespace on the Internet. Thus it will become a symbol of quality for Internet users.

The .schaeffler top-level-domain will be a namespace with support of the whole company, ranging from the manufacturing, design, administrative, human resources, purchasing, logistics and sales to the marketing department and including the whole management team. It is the aim that such a secure namespace will quickly gain a substantial reputation among the global Internet community and Schaeffler customers.


ii. The .schaeffler top-level domain will enhance competition in the global domain name business by introducing a dedicated namespace for the brand SCHAEFFLER. Thus, the global high-precision industry faces the challenge to offer customers a secure, reliable and trustworthy namespace like Schaeffler does with .schaeffler. Customers will have the expectation that big global high-precision manufacturing brands will have an own namespace on the internet.

The .schaeffler top-level domain and its .schaeffler domain names are clearly differentiated to existing top-level domains, especially due to their descriptive and branded nature which has a clear meaning and value to the targeted audience. Today Internet users cannot be sure that domain names incorporating Schaeffler under one of the existing TLDs really belong to Schaeffler or to someone else who is not affiliated with Schaeffler and merely tries to use this brand for his own purposes. Furthermore, only content which strongly relates to or is issued by Schaeffler will be displayed under .schaeffler domain names which differentiate Schaeffler from all other high-precision manufacturers who will not own their respective brand as a top-level domain.

The .schaeffler top-level-domain and its .schaeffler domain names are innovative due to the new category of TLDs which brands like SCHAEFFLER are creating: “Domain names with the ending .schaeffler exclusively belong to Schaeffler”. The novelty is the creation of real trust and reliability for Internet users due to the fact that all .schaeffler domain names are exclusively registered and maintained by a trustworthy source, Schaeffler. Together with other brand top-level domain registries Schaeffler will work on creating awareness on this new namespace “category”.


iii.
Improved search rankings
Today users do not know whether to search schaefflergroup.com, schaeffler.de, ina-precison.net, buy-FAG.org, or LuK-shop.info. With a .schaeffler top-level domain the user will experience a much more intuitive way of finding Schaeffler content on the Internet. They can either type in the exact domain name, since many big companies are expected to operate their .brand and thus type-in traffic might increase for brands. Furthermore this will be supported by the algorithms of big search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. As of today ranking results in search engines incorporate, among many other elements, the top-level as well as the second-level in relation to the search. Therefore it is to be expected that search engines will incorporate the .brand top-level domain as being a relevant part of the search. This effect has been forecasted by major IT researchers, among them Forrester: According to Forrester Research (Oct 2011) „Search engines will give authority to dot-brand TLDs”. Search engines make their money from advertising, and search traffic comes from providing the most relevant, authoritative results to a user’s query. Since companies that get TLDs will have gone through a rigorous 8-12 month validation process, Google, Bing, and Yahoo will adjust their algorithms to give authority to these TLDs.“ Schaeffler is expecting that such a shift in search engine rankings will also positively affect the search engine positioning of the SCHAEFFLER brand and the respective websites under .schaeffler.

Umbrella brand strategy
With a .schaeffler top-level domain Schaeffler will be able to setup an umbrella brand strategy with .schaeffler acting as the umbrella and all SCHAEFFLER trademarks underneath on the second level. Users will then be able to connect the company name with the products even via domain names, for instance through INA.schaeffler, FAG.schaeffler and LuK.schaeffler.

Enhanced trust and reliability
With the .schaeffler top-level domain Schaeffler is expecting to deliver enhanced trust and reliability in the digital space for suppliers, partners and customers based on content and services under domain names with the extension .schaeffler since there will be only one authoritative entity able to register domain names Schaeffler. Especially customers might access further information about Schaeffler products via a secured login page, will get the certainty that they log into a real Schaeffler website.

Intuitive Access
It is planned that intuitive domain name categories such as division.schaeffler, product.schaeffler, city.schaeffler and services.schaeffler will deliver due to their descriptive nature a much more intuitive access to the resources of Schaeffler for customers, business partners, employees and other stakeholders. Instead of clicking through the hierarchies of a website or searching on websites users will have a new level of direct access to the relevant content they have been searching for.


iv.

In addition to the New gTLD Agreement the following registration policies are set-up by Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG. These policies define the rules and regulations concerning the registration of domain names for second-level domains under .SCHAEFFLER.

§ 1 Preamble
Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG is the operator and thus registry for the top-level domain .SCHAEFFLER. It allows the registration of second level domain names below the TLD .SCHAEFFLER.

The TLD .SCHAEFFLER shall be exclusive used by Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG and its affiliated companies in the Internet, especially for the operation of websites, email communications and other DNS-based services. The domain names under the TLD .SCHAEFFLER are not available to the public for registration and active use. Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG will act both as a registry, as well as the sole beneficiary registrant. As far as Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG acts as the registry, it is hereinafter referred to as a registry. If Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG acts as eligible registrant, it is referred to as registrant.
The rights and obligations of the Registry for the operation of the registry are regulated in the contract between the registry and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN below) the Registry Agreement (at present by the Applicant Guidebook dated January 11, 2012) - and is part of the registration conditions. The following statutes constitute the rights and obligations of Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG to third parties and themselve.

§ 2 Domain registration

A domain below the TLD .SCHAEFFLER can only be registered through the Registry-accredited registrars, which are concurrently accredited by ICANN. The legal relationship between the registry and the registrars are governed in the ʺRegistry Registrar Agreementʺ, which is also subject to these policies. For registrations, Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG registrant has to pay the required fee at the respective registrar. The same applies for changing the registrar as a provider through the registrant.

§ 3 Eligibility

The right to register domain names under the TLD .SCHAEFFLER only belongs to SCHAEFFLER TECHNOLOGIES AG & CO. KG. Therefore it acts both as a registry for the TLD .SCHAEFFLER, as well as registrant of domain names under the TLD .SCHAEFFLER. As far as Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG acts as registrant of domain names, it is party to the relevant registration by the registrar. The registration and or management of domain names through a trustee, so-called proxy service is not permitted.

§ 4 Registrable characters

All characters and strings of ASCII code with 1-63 characters can be registered as a domain name. Domain names with two characters are temporarily not allowed. If at the request of the Registry at ICANN domain names with two characters will be released, these are also available for registration. Also all ʺInternationalized Domain Namesʺ (all available IDN Table) can be registered. This means that all character sets that contain a hyphen both at the third and fourth place, are excluded from registration.

§ 5 Reserved Domain Names

Reserved and excluded from registration by an accredited registrar are all domain names defined in ʺSpecification to the ʺRegistry Agreement of the Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012). In ʺSpecification 5ʺ, paragraph 4, reserved domain names, according to the ʺSpecification to ʺRegistry Agreement of the Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012) are registered by the Registry directly. In accordance with ʺSpecification 5ʺ, paragraph 2 and 5, reserved domain names can be registered by an accredited registrar, according to the ʺSpecification to ʺRegistry Agreement of the Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012) after release.

§ 6 Assignment of domain names

Although only Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG is entitled to register domain names under the TLD .SCHAEFFLER, according to the requirements of the Registry Agreements of the Applicant Guidebook (as of 11⁄01⁄2012) a so-called ʺsunrise periodʺ for the protection of specific rights is preceded. The ʺsunrise periodʺ is subject to the provisions of the Trademark Clearinghouse Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012). Prerequisite for applying for a domain name during the Sunrise Period is the eligibility under the TLD .SCHAEFFLER. Moreover, the order of registrations based on the principle ʺfirst come first servedʺ

§ 7 Registration period

Domain names can be registered for 1 - 10 years. The registration of a .SCHAEFFLER domain name follows the normal “gTLD life cycle”.

§ 8 Registration termination of a domain name

A termination of the registration of a domain name shall be carried out by the Registrar, at the discretion of the registrant and requires no justification. If in the notice no actual calendar day on which the termination shall take place is determined, the registration of the domain name is terminated with immediate effect. With the effective date of termination of the terminated domain name is deleted.

§ 9 Transfer of a domain name

The transfer of registered domains, paid or free, to another registrant as Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG is prohibited. Both the corporate transfer (sale of shares), as well as the transfer of the registry as an asset sale must be approved by ICANN according to the New gTLD Registry Agreement, Figure 7.5.

§ 10 Use of registered domain names

Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG operates services, especially websites and email services, which are associated or connected with a registered domain name, by themselve. She is entitled to authorize the use and operation of such DNS-based services to third parties. In this respect the only authorized entities are Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG and all affiliated entities of Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG (in particular parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, or otherwise connected companies that the ICANN definition of ʺaffiliateʺ in the ʺRegistry Agreement of the Applicant Guidebook, Version: 11.01.2012, § 2, 9c corresponds to). The use of registered domain names and related services is permitted only for business-related purposes of Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG. A domain name cannot be made available for use by a third party who is not entitled to use.

§ 11 Abusive registration and or use of a domain name

It is illegal to use a domain name, either as registrant or user to whom the domain was left to use, abusive. Abusive is any use that is prohibited under German law. This is especially true for domain name registrations which violate trademark or name or personal rights. Examples for abusive use are, but not limited, spamming (sending unsolicited bulk mail), phishing (fraudulent data collection) and the infringing content from websites. For obvious abusive registration or use the Registry is entitled to delete the domain name, without prior consultation of the user.

§ 12 Dispute procedures

The registry has established three arbitration proceedings outside the jurisdiction generally. This is the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄help⁄dndr⁄udrp), Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS according to Applicant Guidebook, Version 11.01.2012) and the Trademark Dispute Resolution Procedures Post-delegation (PDDRP according to Applicant Guidebook, include module 5, §5.4.1, Version 11⁄01⁄2012). All registry accredited registrars are required to include UDRP, URS and PDDRP, as applicable part in the registration agreement. If a UDRP proceedings brought by a non-authorized third party in which the third party prevails, the third party cannot achieve the transfer of the domain name, but only the deletion of the domain.

§ 13 Whois

The Registry maintains a publicly accessible database in which all data of the registrant of a domain name in accordance with the Specification 4 and 10 of the Applicant Guidebook (currently as of 01⁄11⁄2012) and the RFC 3912 will be published. This includes the specification of the registrant of the domain name with name, postal address, email, phone and fax, the appointment of an Admin C, Tech C and optionally a zone manager who is published, with details in the Whois database. Admin C, Tech C and Zone Manager can be specified using the contact details of the company for which they are employed. To prevent misuse of the Whois database, the registry will secure access to Whois data via a CAPTCHA code and limit the access through the number of query requests per IP address, or otherwise.


v.
The WHOIS data of all “.schaeffler” domains will be visible to the public, although a CAPTCHA module prevents from automated inquiries. Bulk access to WHOIS data will not be allowed according to ICANN specifications. In addition Schaeffler will establish an abuse point of contact. The “.schaeffler” TLD will not offer or allow privacy of confidential information of registrants.



vi.
Schaeffler annually invests a multi-million EURO budget in marketing its products, brands and services to customers and interested Internet users which means that domain names are included on nearly all promotional materials.

In the future after the approval of .schaeffler this marketing power will be used for the promotion of domain names with the extension .schaeffler in order to create a quick uptake in awareness of the new .schaeffler domain names worldwide.

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