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

Prototypical answer:

18.2 How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Self Storage LLC believes that a proposed .STORAGE gTLD has the potential to offer the following benefits to Internet users and consumers:

• Establish a trusted online marketplace for consumers seeking information, goods and services related to the self storage industry;
• Provide short and memorable domain names that will facilitate the ease with which consumers can locate information online;
• Minimize potential incidents of phishing and malware often associated with mistypes of domain names in the .COM space;
• Incorporate enhanced intellectual property rights (IPR) protection mechanisms. As set forth in the Applicant Guidebook; and
• Include a post-registration reporting mechanism to take down non bona fide registrations.

All domain names registered within the .STORAGE gTLD will be required to comply with the following three policies: (1) Registrant Eligibility (who can register within the .LLC gTLD); (2) Name Selection Criteria (what domain names can be registered); and (3) Authorized Usage Policy (how the domain names can be used). Each of these policies is described below in more detail and throughout the remainder of the application.

18.2.1 What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

The primary mission and purpose of the .STORAGE gTLD is to serve the Storage Network and provide a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace to aggregate information, goods and services related to the self storage industry. Self Storage LLC believes that a .STORAGE gTLD has the potential to provide a virtual platform that offers interactive features to enhance consumers experience, for what traditionally has been a “bricks and mortar” industry.

The .STORAGE namespace will be specifically targeted at potential registrants who are members of the network of businesses, individuals and organization having a meaningful nexus to the self storage sector, which we refer to here as the Storage Network. Given the shortage of short, intuitive, and memorable domain names in legacy gTLDs, and the potential proliferation of an unlimited number of gTLDs, a .STORAGE gTLD provides an opportunity for small self storage business owners to register a domain name in a gTLD specifically designed for the industry. In addition, Self Storage LLC, promotes the uniqueness of this space by enforcing the three-fold compliance policies outlined above: Registrant Eligibility, Name Selection Criteria, and Authorized Usage Policy.

18.2.2 What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

It is anticipated that the .STORAGE gTLD will be a namespace targeted to the Storage Network. Thus, Self Storage LLC believes that a .STORAGE gTLD will offer these parties the ability to register a domain name that corresponds to their business or trade name in an intuitive namespace more specific to their business goals, instead of in the current commercial namespace. In addition, business owners and entities that are not able to register their preferred names in the .COM space, for any number of reasons, will have another, more intuitive option. This will both differentiate these entities’ domain names from their competitors, and allow multiple businesses with the same or similar trade names to register their names in differentiated namespaces.
Self Storage LLC intends to follow good business practices in dealing with law enforcement to create a marketplace with safeguards designed to minimize fraud and other illegal activity, e.g. its three-fold compliance policy, including Registrant Eligibility, Name Selection, and Authorized Usage. More specifics regarding the scope and implementation of these policies are set forth in the response to Questions 28, 29 and 30 of this application.

While some of ICANN’s new gTLDs have previously been the subject of claims regarding increased spam and phishing activities, the .STORAGE gTLD will be a trusted source for consumers and businesses looking for information, goods and services related to the self storage industry. Self Storage LLC believes that the long term success of the TLD will not be measured by the number of domain name registered. Instead it will be measured by the level of consumer recognition and trust that is placed place in .STORAGE gTLD. Using this benchmark, Self Storage LLC strives to build consumer recognition and trust that rise to the level of that found in the.EDU and .GOV gTLDs.


18.2.3 What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

Self Storage LLC believes that the .STORAGE gTLD will provide a single trusted ecosystem experience for the millions of business and consumers that access information about self storage industry through online, mobile, and social platforms. By providing the foundation of this trusted ecosystem, all domain name registrants in the .STORAGE gTLD will be able to share in the benefits of this collective resource. Self Storage LLC believes that it can be a pioneer in bringing innovation and consumer choice through this new Internet medium, .STORAGE gTLD.

Self Storage LLC’s current best thinking involves a business model in which generic names (e.g. rental, indoor, boats, cars, etc.) and geographic (city⁄state) domain names would initially be reserved⁄allocated to the registry operator to provide a hierarchical and intuitive framework for consumers to more easily navigate the .STORAGE namespace.

In order to ensure that these initial generic and geographic domain names that might be reserved⁄allocated by the registry prior to general availability to not infringe the rights of any third parties, Self Storage LLC is proposing an enhanced Rights Protection Mechanism (“RPM”) that will allow trademark owners to challenge domain names initially reserved⁄allocated by the registry. This process will be modeled after the trademark challenge process adopted by dotAsia in connection with its Pioneering names process.


18.2.4 Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

Self Storage LLC is fully committed to implementing all of ICANN’s consensus policies and other Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) identified in the Applicant Guidebook. In addition Self Storage LLC intends to provide the registration policies introduced in 18.2 above in support of its goals:

1) REGISTRANT ELIGIBILITY POLICY—Self Storage LLC will develop and publicly post on its website a charter providing a listing of those individuals and organizations that have a nexus with the self storage industry. Only those individuals and organizations meeting these criteria will be permitted to register a domain name in .STORAGE. To facilitate this timely validation, Self Storage LLC is evaluating either conducting this validation internally; outsourcing it to a third party (i.e. Choicepoint as the original case of .TRAVEL); or automatically permitting registration based upon an individual’s or organization’s membership in an association. Self Storage LLC is still reviewing the pros and cons of each of these options and has yet made an exact decision on the best validation process.

2) NAME SELECTION CRITERIA POLICY—‘Self Storage LLC will initially require that third party registrants only register domain names that correspond with their business and⁄or trade name. This will minimize instances of phishing, malware, and cybersquatting in the .LLC gTLD registry.

While it is the full intention of Self Storage LLC to make available for registration generic, geographic, and other domain name string that do not correspond to a registrants business and⁄or trade name to potential registrants meeting the nexus requirements, Self Storage LLC has not yet decided on a suitable equitable allocation process. In fact Self Storage may not finalize this decision until after developing and implementing their own hierarchical and intuitive framework as outlined in response to 18.2.3 to gain additional market analysis.

3) ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY—Self Storage LLC will set forth a list of prohibited activities. Failure to comply with these requirements subject the domain name registration to suspension and or revocation. This acceptable use policy is set forth in further detail in the response to Question 30.

Self Storage LLC will also have an administrative appeal process by which any registrant or prospective registrant denied a domain name under any of the policies identified above can appeal a decision for review.

As noted in the previous question, Self Storage LLC is proposing an enhanced Rights Protection Mechanism (RPM) that will allow trademark owners to challenge domain names initially reserved⁄allocated by the registry operator. This process will be modeled after the trademark challenge process adopted by dotAsia in connection with its Pioneering names process.

18.2.5 Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.
Self Storage LLC recognizes first hand that this is an evolving area of law in which there is not an international standard. While the largest segment of the self storage industry is located in the United States, Self Storage LLC recognizes that that this is a global industry and there are potential registrant from around the world meeting the nexus requirements set forth in Registrant Eligibility Policy criteria.

Therefore, Self Storage LLC intends to incorporate contractual language in its Registry Registrar Agreement (“RRA”) modeled after language which has been included in the template Registry Agreement and which has been successfully utilized by existing ICANN gTLD registry operators. Specifically, Self Storage LLC shall notify any Registrar of the purposes for which Personal Data submitted to Self Storage LLC by the Registrar is collected, the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data, and the mechanism for access to and correction of such Personal Data. Self Storage LLC shall take reasonable steps to protect Personal Data from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. Self Storage LLC shall not use or authorize the use of Personal Data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars. Self Storage LLC may from time to time use the demographic data collected for statistical analysis, provided that this analysis will not disclose individual Personal Data and provided that such use is compatible with the notice provided to registrars regarding the purpose and procedures for such use.

18.2.6 Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

Unlike the majority of existing generic gTLDs that ICANN has approved, e.g., .INFO (Afilias), .BIZ (NeuStar), and .ASIA (dotAsia), the .STORAGE gTLD target market is a much smaller universe of potential registrants. In fact it is highly unlikely under current projections that .STORAGE will exceed 50,000 domain name registrations during the term of its initial contract of delegation with ICANN. Therefore, Self Storage LLC should be able to more closely engage its marketing and outreach efforts to potential registrants through industry acknowledged trade association or other profession organizations within the self storage industry.

Self Storage LLC will seek to leverage Afilias Limited’s existing network of registrars to expand the distribution network of its gTLD, and will engage the services of a marketing or otherwise strategically situated consulting firm in order to facilitate outreach and communication in an evolving namespace. Self Storage LLC also sees the potential for the .STORAGE gTLD to play a larger role in the evolution of the self storage industry’s future online strategy.

While the extent of likely benefits is currently uncertain due to questions of consumer recognition, the adoption of new gTLDs, and the response from search engines in the marketplace, Self Storage LLC believes that the .STORAGE gTLD can provide an important cornerstone in the self storage industry’s future online strategy.

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