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

Prototypical answer:

i.

* SPECIALITY: The Integrally connected namespace *

The speciality of the .TIROL top-level domain is that it aims to become a new namespace for the communication and interaction of all the various stakeholders of TIROL such as Internet users, companies, associations, regional and local government, the media and public institutions. By becoming the essential source for community members, the .TIROL namespace integrally connects them on the Internet.

* REPUTATION and SERVICE LEVEL: Secure and trustworthy namespace *

The .TIROL namespace managed under the legislation of Austria and technically operated by the operator of the .AT ccTLD brings with it security, reliability, trust and credibility in the same manner as already established by a national ccTLD like .AT. The registration policies and the start-up planning ensure that only community members may register a .TIROL domain name. Internet users can trust that information and services offered under .TIROL domains are from or for the community. This is a service level that is sought after by the global Internet community and which will contribute to the already positive reputation of the .TIROL namespace.

* SPECIALITY: Intuitive and memorable namespace *

Domain names under .TIROL are descriptive, precise and create identity for people and institutions related to the region of Tirol. The .TIROL top-level domain and its domain names enable inhabitants, tourists, administrations, organisations and companies to come together in a more intuitive manner than today. This is a special ability that is difficult to provide within existing top-level domains, but will become a standard in future top-level domains.

ii.

* COMPETITION - Regional strength and enhanced options for the Tirol Community *

With .TIROL, community members will be enabled to choose from a wide pool of contextually relevant domain names and register those which best suit their communication needs. The .TIROL top-level domain will be welcome, since the national ccTLD .AT is well populated with more than 1 million registered domain names and a high domain penetration of over 120 domain names per 1,000 inhabitants. As an addition to gTLDs, ccTLDs and future gTLDs, .TIROL will be an ideal supplement.

With a bigger choice the Tirolers will experience a more competitive pricing for suitable domain names. Tirolers will have numerous options when registering a domain because .TIROL opens up a completely new namespace where all domain names are still available at launch. .TIROL is also expected to add value, for instance if it helps websites to achieve higher search engine relevance. The strong and unique local and regional character of the .TIROL domain names brings about a natural competition in the global domain name business by introducing a dedicated namespace for the TIROL community.

* Prosperous and promising namespace *

This environment creates new business opportunities and fosters the development of innovative services for the benefit of the Tirol Community and its members. With .TIROL domain names, the Tirol Community can enhance their search engine rankings by delivering more relevant search results. This will benefit in more traffic on their respective websites under .TIROL domain name and will increase their position in the local and global market. From a user perspective, Tirolers and visitors of Tirol will have a quicker and easier way to find businesses and destinations under names such as lifts.TIROL, public information under names such as taxoffice.TIROL or accommodations under a name such as pensions.TIROL. All together .TIROL will become a prosperous and promising namespace.

* DIFFERENTIATION - A meaningful TLD *

The .TIROL top-level domain and its .TIROL domain names are clearly differentiated from existing TLDs, not only due to their descriptive and self-explanatory nature which has a clear meaning and value to the targeted registrants and Internet users but also due to their dedicated owners.

* INNOVATION – Connected services and a Community Sunrise *

The Tirol Community will be supported by innovative domain name connected services such as offering mobile services, directory services and search engine optimization. The new .TIROL domain names will be suitable for search engines and other forms of communication that also incorporates multilingual services for the adjoining countries. Another innovation in .TIROL will be the introduction a community sunrise phase with a special focus on the trademark rights of local businesses.

iii.

Users will understand that in the .TIROL namespace only eligible registrants can register their names, thus heightening the local identity and connectedness. The intuitive and descriptive domain names under a meaningful TLD like .TIROL will enable consumers to navigate and search more easily for information and services in and about Tirol on the Internet. It is also expected that search engines will give ranking preference to .TIROL domain names compared to other TLDs, if the .TIROL namespace is managed well and offers advantages over other TLDs. This will increase the visibility along with the strong marketing efforts for .TIROL by punkt Tirol GmbH and its partners from the Tirol community.

iv.

.TIROL second-level domain names are restricted to the community of Tirolers and their organizations (Registrants). Punkt Tirol GmbH intends to offer the registration of domain names under .TIROL according to the following policies (the following text is a shortened and descriptive version of the full registration policy text which highlights the relevant information):

* START-UP SCHEDULE *

The .TIROL top-level domain will have a simple and straight forward start-up schedule with the phases noted below:

Phase 1 – Reservation of names for defined interest groups of the TIROL community including

- Reservation of names for local authorities and their departments (public offices and functions etc.)

- Reservation of names for defined interest groups of the Tirol community including (i) names for the representation of the economic and non-commercial interests of the state of Tirol (associations, location marketing, culture, etc.) in accordance with the purpose of the .TIROL top-level domain

- Reservation of names for the technical operation, the namespace management, marketing and purpose of the .TIROL top-level domain as defined in #18a

- Reservation of premium names

- Reservation of names in accordance with the ICANN specification 5 (2-characters, country names, others)

Phase 2a – COMMUNITY SUNRISE

Sunrise for IP right owners from the Tirol Community. Eligible are all registrants who meet the eligibility criteria of .TIROL described below and whose names and trademarks are valid in Austria and have been registered before publication of the .TIROL policies. The Community Sunrise has a duration of 30 days; names with multiple registrations will be auctioned.

Phase 2b – GLOBAL SUNRISE

Sunrise under the Trademark Clearinghouse rules. Eligible are all registrants who meet the eligibility criteria of .TIROL described below and whose trademarks were validated by the Trademark Clearinghouse. The TMCH Sunrise has a duration of 30 days; names with multiple registrations will be auctioned.

Phase 3 – LANDRUSH

Registration of domain names for the Community of Tirol. Eligible are all registrants who meet the .TIROL eligibility criteria described below. Allocation follows the first-come, first-served principle.
Phase 4 – Auction of premium domain names at a later stage, eligible are all registrants who meet the .TIROL eligibility criteria described below.


* ELIGIBILITY *

Since .TIROL is intended to serve the community of the Tirolers in general, the group of eligible registrants is limited. Exclusively eligible to register a domain name under the top-level domain .TIROL is any natural person, legal person, organization or association of persons, if they can demonstrate that they have an economic, cultural, touristical, historical, social or any other connection to the Austrian federal state of Tirol.


* CONTENT ⁄ USE *

To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the application, the registrant must use the .TIROL domain in an economic, cultural, touristical, historic, social or any other meaningful connection to the Austrian Federal State of Tirol.

Restrictions may include, but are not limited to a requirement that each registered domain name is used in conjunction with standard IP protocols such as http, https, smtp⁄mail, ftp, etc..

The .TIROL Registry will, from time to time in its sole discretion or upon evidence or advice conduct continuing or recurring audits of domain names registered to ensure continued compliance with these requirements. Failure to comply will result in a notice providing 20-days to comply. Non-compliance following such a notice period may result in take-down of the relevant domain name, at the discretion of the Registry.


* NAME SELECTION *

A .TIROL domain name can only consist of digits (0-9), hyphens, and the lowercase letters a-z. It must neither start nor end with an hyphen. If the domain name has hyphens at the third and fourth place, the name must be the A-label of a valid IDN, according to the description and table contained in question 44. IDNs under .TIROL are supported in the Latin script. The minimum length of a domain is one (1), the maximum length sixty-three (63) characters. If the domain is an IDN, the maximum length is determined in accordance with RFC 5890 and RFC 5891.


* EQUIVALENT RIGHTS *
If no special allocation method is provided for a domain name, it is assigned categorically to this eligible registrant whose application has been first received by the Registry in the technically correct manner and in accordance with the .TIROL registration policy and has been first written in the .TIROL Registry database (also called priority principle, ʺfirst come, first servedʺ). By registering the domain name it is no longer available for further registrations until the registration expires and is not renewed or until the domain is canceled.

v.

The use of proxy and privacy services to protect the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users will be allowed in the own discretion of registrars and registrants.

vi.

The .TIROL top-level domain will be operated by punkt Tirol GmbH, which is a subsidiary of Moser Holding AG. Moser Holding is, with a number of subsidiaries, the leading media, publishing and IT company in Tirol, offering newspapers, television, Internet services and more. For the .TIROL project, Moser Holding and punkt Tirol GmbH cooperate closely with the Austrian federal state of Tirol, as well as with a number of partners from the TIROL Community, to plan and implement a comprehensive communication strategy with the aim to gain awareness within the community. We will continue to communicate the benefits of .TIROL domains names within the community. We are confident that our broad outreach program, which is part of our marketing efforts, will help us to achieve the projected benefits of .TIROL.

Similar gTLD applications: (1)