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29 Rights Protection Mechanisms

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.carCharleston Road Registry Inc.google.comView
Abusive registrations and uses of domain names in the global top-level domain (gTLD) will not be tolerated. The nature of such abuses creates security and stability issues for the registry, registrars and registrants, as well as for users of the Internet in general. As set forth in prior responses, Charleston Road Registry (CRR) will employ a stringent verification process to establish that every prospective registrant meets the registration criteria. In addition to this verification process, the registry promises to incorporate the following Rights Protection Mechanisms.

29.1. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Sunrise Period

Subject to the Sunrise Eligibility Requirements (SERs) outlined herein, Charleston Road Registry (CRR) will offer a Sunrise Period of 60 days for owners of trademarks listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse to register domain names that contain a second level consisting of an identical match to their listed trademarks. In addition, CRR plans to implement a pricing structure to make it easy for brand owners to secure their trademarks and brand names within the gTLD. CRR’s registrar will confirm all Sunrise and Registration eligibility. As an added measure of security for brand owners, CRR will staff an internal sunrise team (the “Sunrise Contact”) which will review all Sunrise registrations to ensure Sunrise and registration eligibility.

The SERs, which will be verified by Clearinghouse data, will include the following: (i) proof of membership in eligible registrant class, (ii) ownership of a mark that is (a) nationally or regionally registered and for which proof of use, such as a declaration and a single specimen of current use – was submitted to, and validated by, the Trademark Clearinghouse; or (b) that have been court-validated; or (c) that are specifically protected by a statute or treaty currently in effect and that was in effect on or before 26 June 2008; (iii) representation that all provided information is true and correct; and (iv) provision of data sufficient to document rights in the trademark.

Upon submission of all of the required information and documentation, the registrar will review the submissions and verify the trademark and eligibility information and all contact information provided for registration. The registrar shall then send confirmation messages, listing any deficiencies regarding the trademark information provided with the application. If a registrant does not cure any eligibility deficiencies and⁄or respond by the means listed within one week, the registrar will release the name.

CRR will incorporate a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP). The SDRP will allow challenges to Sunrise Registrations by third parties for a ten-day period after acceptance of the registration based on the following four grounds: (i) at the time the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant did not hold a trademark registration of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; (ii) the domain name is not identical to the mark on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration; (iii) the trademark registration on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration is not of national or regional effect or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; or (iv) the trademark registration on which the domain name registrant based its Sunrise registration did not issue on or before the effective date of the Registry Agreement and was not applied for on or before ICANN announced the applications received.

After receiving a Sunrise Complaint, the Sunrise Contact will review the Complaint to see if the Complaint reasonably asserts a legitimate challenge as defined by the SDRP. If the Complaint does not, the Sunrise Contact will email the complainant within 36 hours of the complaint to indicate that the subject of the complaint does not fall within SDRP, and that CRR considers the matter closed.

If the domain name is not found to have adequately met the SERs, the Sunrise Contact may alert the registrar to immediately suspend resolution of the domain name, as appropriate. Thereafter, the Sunrise Contact will immediately notify the registrant of such action, the nature of the complaint, and provide the registrant with the option to respond within ten days to cure the SER deficiencies or the domain will be canceled. All such actions will be ticketed in Google’s customer relationship management (CRM) software to maintain accurate SDRP processing records.

If the registrant responds within ten business days, its response will be reviewed by the Sunrise Contact to determine if the SERs are met. If the Sunrise Contact is satisfied by the registrant’s response, it will submit a request by the registry services team to reactivate the domain name. The Sunrise Contact will then notify the Complainant that its complaint was ultimately denied and provide the reasons for the denial. If not, both the registrant and the complainant will be notified that the domain name will be released.

29.2. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Trademark Claims Service

CRR will offer a Trademark Claims Service during the Sunrise Period and plans to continue to offer the service for an indefinite period of time thereafter during general registration. CRR will staff an internal team that will be considered the Trademark Claims Contact. The registrar will verify whether any domain name requested to be registered in the gTLD is an identical match of a trademark that has been filed with the Trademark Clearinghouse. It is anticipated that a domain name will be considered an identical match when the domain name consists of the complete and identical textual elements of the mark, and includes domain names where (a) spaces contained within a mark that are either replaced by hyphens (and vice versa) or omitted; (b) certain special characters contained within a trademark are spelled out with appropriate words describing it (e.g., @ and &); and (c) punctuation or special characters contained within a mark that are unable to be used in a second-level domain name are either (i) omitted or (ii) replaced by hyphens or underscores.

If the registrar determines that a prospective domain name registration is identical to a mark registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse, the registrar will provide a “Trademark Claims Notice” (“Notice”) in English on the registrar’s website to the prospective registrant of the domain name. The Notice will provide the prospective registrant with access to the Trademark Clearinghouse Database information referenced in the Trademark Claims Notice to enhance its understanding of the Trademark rights being claimed by the trademark holder via a link. The Notice will be provided in real time without cost to the prospective registrant.

After receiving the Notice, the registrar will require the prospective registrant to click a link that specifically warrants that: (i) the prospective registrant has received notification that the mark(s) is included in the Clearinghouse; (ii) the prospective registrant has received and understood the Notice; and (iii) the registration and use of the requested domain name will not infringe on the rights that are the subject of the Notice.

CRR reserves the right to adopt other procedures and requirements for the Trademark Claims Service. At a minimum, it is anticipated that after the effectuation of a registration that is identical to a mark listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse, the registrar will then provide a clear notice to the trademark owner of the trademark with an email detailing the WHOIS information of the registered domain name. The trademark owner then has the option of filing a Complaint under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and⁄or the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) against the domain name. As discussed in its right protection mechanisms, CRR will require in its domain name registration agreements that its registry operator and registrar providers, as well as all registrants, submit to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) procedures. CRR and its registrar(s) will abide by decisions rendered under the UDRP and URS on a timely and ongoing basis upon notification.

29.3. Rights Protection Mechanisms – URS

CRR will specify in the Registry Agreement, all Registry-Registrar Agreements, and all Registration Agreements used in connection with the gTLD that it will abide by all decisions made by panels in accordance with the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS). CRR’s registrar will be tasked with receiving all URS Complaints and decisions. After receiving a URS complaint about a domain name within the gTLD, the registrar will ensure that the domain name is locked within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of a URS complaint from the URS Provider and will notify CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact and the registrant. In the event of a determination in favor of the complainant, the registrant will notify the Abuse Point of Contact and the registry services provider to ensure that the registry suspends the domain name in a timely fashion and has the website at that domain name is redirected to an informational web page provided by the URS Provider about the URS throughout the life of its registration. CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact will oversee and monitor the status and resolution of all URS complaints and decisions.

29.4. Rights Protection Mechanisms – UDRP

CRR will specify in the Registry Agreement, all Registry-Registrar Agreements, and all Registration Agreements used in connection with the gTLD, that it will abide by all decisions made by panels in accordance with the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). CRR’s registrar will be tasked with receiving all UDRP complaints and decisions. After receiving a UDRP complaint about a domain name within the gTLD, the registrar will ensure that the domain name is locked within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of a UDRP complaint from the UDRP Provider and will notify CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact and the registrant. In the event of a determination in favor of the complainant, the registrant will notify the Abuse Point of Contact and the registry services provider to ensure that the registry cancels or transfers the domain name in a timely fashion as provided for by the decision. CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact will oversee and monitor the status and resolution of all UDRP complaints and decisions.

29.5. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Proven Registrars

CRR will contract with various ICANN-accredited registrars. CRR is committed to reducing abusive registrations, and will ensure that its registrar operates accordingly.

29.6. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Pre-Authorization and Authentication

CRR will authenticate registrant information by providing an email verification link sent to the registrant to confirm its email address. In addition, CRR will ensure proper access to domain functions by requiring multi-factor authentication from registrants to process update, transfer, and deletion requests.

No name will resolve until the registrant has been verified by the internal team as an eligible registrant.

29.7. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Grace Period

See Question 27 for a detailed discussion of CRR’s policies with respect to Add Grace Periods.

29.8. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Domain Anti-Abuse Policy

CRR will implement in its internal policies and its Registry-Registrar and Registration agreements that all registered domain names will be subject to a Domain Name Anti-Abuse Policy (“Policy”). See Question 28 for a detailed discussion of CRR’s Anti-Abuse Policy.

29.9. Resourcing

Google will implement these technical requirements using the teams and resources discussed below.

The cost of these services will generally be set at reasonable market rates per agreement between CRR and Google. The expected costs are discussed in Questions 46 and 47.

29.9.1. Registry Team

The Registry Team will be responsible for designing and implementing the SRS, EPP, and WHOIS systems, including implementation of the rights protection mechanisms. They will also be responsible for creating tests and monitoring for these systems.

During initial implementation, this team will consist of at least 4-7 software engineers responsible for implementing the project. Additionally, Google plans to staff one software engineer who is responsible for engineering testing and monitoring for the registry, and one software engineer who is responsible for backup, restoration and escrow. In total, Google plans to implement the registry with a team of 6-9 software engineers.

After the registry is complete, Google expects to staff a team to support the ongoing operation of the registry. This team will consist of at least four engineers who will participate in on-call rotation, respond to alerts, provide support to ICANN and registrars for emergency escalations, and maintain responsibility for bug fixes and improvements. This team will continue maintenance throughout the life of the registry.

This team’s responsibilities will generally be limited to registry-specific components. The Registry Team will work closely with other relevant teams, including the Authoritative DNS support team, Storage Site Reliability Engineering team, network engineering and operations, and customer support teams. These other teams are described in more detail in Question 31 (Section 31.16), as well as the relevant sections throughout this application.

29.9.1. Customer Service Team

The Customer Services Team will be responsible for supporting customers and partners, including responding to abusive registrations. Google has a very large existing customer service team of both internal staff as well as staff contracted through third parties, with many hundreds of dedicated staff members already in place. Since these teams and their management are already in place, no standalone implementation resources are needed.

To continue ongoing maintenance of CRR support needs, Google plans to add additional resources for capacity as needed. Google expects to add a total of approximately fifteen additional personnel (including both Google employees and outside vendors) to support all of CRR’s customers and partners. The individual staffing allocation to each gTLD is described in Question 47.

29.10. Summary and Key Insights

CRR is committed to implementing strong and integrated intellectual property rights protection mechanisms. Doing so is critical to Google’s goals of model Internet citizenship and fostering Internet development, especially in emerging regions. Accordingly, CRR intends to offer a suite of rights protection measures which builds upon ICANNʹs required policies while fulfilling our commitment to encouraging innovation, competition, and choice on the Internet.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.cloudCharleston Road Registry Inc.google.comView
29. Rights Protection Mechanisms

Abusive registrations and uses of domain names in the global top-level domain (gTLD) will not be tolerated. The nature of such abuses creates security and stability issues for the registry, registrars and registrants, as well as for users of the Internet in general. As set forth in prior responses, Charleston Road Registry (CRR) intends to operate this gTLD as a secure and closed registry, and does not plan to offer domain name registrations to third-parties. Charleston Road Registry (CRR) will employ a stringent verification process to establish that every prospective registrant meets the registration criteria. The security of the gTLD is enhanced by the fact that only CRR and its affiliates will be eligible to register domains. In addition to this verification process, the registry promises to incorporate the following Rights Protection Mechanisms.

29.1. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Sunrise Period

Operation of a closed gTLD with no third-party registrants should mitigate concerns of abusive registrations. Nonetheless, subject to the Sunrise Eligibility Requirements (SERs) outlined herein, CRR will offer a Sunrise Period of 60 days for owners of trademarks listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse to claim domain names that contain a second level consisting of an identical match to their listed trademarks. CRR’s registrar will confirm all Sunrise and Registration eligibility. As an added measure of security for brand owners, CRR will staff an internal sunrise team (the “Sunrise Contact”) who will review all Sunrise registrations to ensure Sunrise and registration eligibility.

The SERs, which will be verified by Clearinghouse data, will include the following: (i) proof of membership in eligible registrant class, namely, employees and⁄or affiliates of CRR; (ii) ownership of a mark that is (a) nationally or regionally registered and for which proof of use, such as a declaration and a single specimen of current use – was submitted to, and validated by, the Trademark Clearinghouse; or (b) that have been court-validated; or (c) that are specifically protected by a statute or treaty currently in effect and that was in effect on or before 26 June 2008; (iii) representation that all provided information is true and correct; and (iv) provision of data sufficient to document rights in the trademark.

Upon submission of all of the required information and documentation, the registrar will review the submissions and verify the trademark and eligibility information and all contact information provided for registration. The registrar shall then send confirmation messages, listing any deficiencies regarding the trademark information provided with the application. If a registrant does not cure any eligibility deficiencies and⁄or respond by the means listed within one week, the registrar will release the name.

CRR will incorporate a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP). The SDRP will allow challenges to Sunrise Registrations by third parties for a ten-day period after acceptance of the registration based on the following four grounds: (i) at the time the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant did not hold a trademark registration of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; (ii) the domain name is not identical to the mark on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration; (iii) the trademark registration on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration is not of national or regional effect or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; or (iv) the trademark registration on which the domain name registrant based its Sunrise registration did not issue on or before the effective date of the Registry Agreement and was not applied for on or before ICANN announced the applications received.

After receiving a Sunrise Complaint, the Sunrise Contact will review the Complaint to see if the Complaint reasonably asserts a legitimate challenge as defined by the SDRP. If the Complaint does not, the Sunrise Contact will email the complainant within 36 hours of the complaint to indicate that the subject of the complaint does not fall within SDRP, and that CRR considers the matter closed.

If the domain name is not found to have adequately met the SERs, the Sunrise Contact may alert the registrar to immediately suspend resolution of the domain name, as appropriate. Thereafter, the Sunrise Contact will immediately notify the registrant of such action, the nature of the complaint, and provide the registrant with the option to respond within ten days to cure the SER deficiencies or the domain will be canceled. All such actions will be ticketed in Google’s customer relationship management (CRM) software to maintain accurate SDRP processing records.

If the registrant responds within ten business days, its response will be reviewed by the Sunrise Contact to determine if the SERs are met. If the Sunrise Contact is satisfied by the registrant’s response, it will submit a request by the registry services team to reactivate the domain name. The Sunrise Contact will then notify the Complainant that its complaint was ultimately denied and provide the reasons for the denial. If not, both the registrant and the complainant will be notified that the domain name will be released.

29.2. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Trademark Claims Service

CRR will offer a Trademark Claims Service during the Sunrise Period and plans to continue to offer the service for an indefinite period of time thereafter during general registration. CRR will staff an internal team that will be considered the Trademark Claims Contact. The registrar will verify whether any domain name requested to be registered in the gTLD is an identical match of a trademark that has been filed with the Trademark Clearinghouse. It is anticipated that a domain name will be considered an identical match when the domain name consists of the complete and identical textual elements of the mark, and includes domain names where (a) spaces contained within a mark that are either replaced by hyphens (and vice versa) or omitted; (b) certain special characters contained within a trademark are spelled out with appropriate words describing it (e.g., @ and &); and (c) punctuation or special characters contained within a mark that are unable to be used in a second-level domain name are either (i) omitted or (ii) replaced by hyphens or underscores.

If the registrar determines that a prospective domain name registration is identical to a mark registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse, the registrar will provide a “Trademark Claims Notice” (“Notice”) in English on the registrar’s website to the prospective registrant of the domain name. The Notice will provide the prospective registrant with access to the Trademark Clearinghouse Database information referenced in the Trademark Claims Notice to enhance its understanding of the Trademark rights being claimed by the trademark holder via a link. The Notice will be provided in real time without cost to the prospective registrant.

After receiving the Notice, the registrar will require the prospective registrant to click a link that specifically warrants that: (i) the prospective registrant has received notification that the mark(s) is included in the Clearinghouse; (ii) the prospective registrant has received and understood the Notice; and (iii) the registration and use of the requested domain name will not infringe on the rights that are the subject of the Notice.

CRR reserves the right to adopt other procedures and requirements for the Trademark Claims Service. At a minimum, it is anticipated that after the effectuation of a registration that is identical to a mark listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse, the registrar will then provide a clear notice to the trademark owner of the trademark with an email detailing the WHOIS information of the registered domain name. The trademark owner then has the option of filing a Complaint under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and⁄or the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) against the domain name. As discussed in its right protection mechanisms, CRR will require in its domain name registration agreements that its registry operator and registrar providers, as well as all registrants, submit to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) procedures. CRR and its registrar(s) will abide by decisions rendered under the UDRP and URS on a timely and ongoing basis upon notification.

29.3. Rights Protection Mechanisms – URS

CRR will specify in the Registry Agreement, all Registry-Registrar Agreements, and all Registration Agreements used in connection with the gTLD that it will abide by all decisions made by panels in accordance with the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS). CRR’s registrar will be tasked with receiving all URS Complaints and decisions. After receiving a URS complaint about a domain name within the gTLD, the registrar will ensure that the domain name is locked within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of a URS complaint from the URS Provider and will notify CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact and the registrant. In the event of a determination in favor of the complainant, the registrant will notify the Abuse Point of Contact and the registry services provider to ensure that the registry suspends the domain name in a timely fashion and has the website at that domain name is redirected to an informational web page provided by the URS Provider about the URS throughout the life of its registration. CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact will oversee and monitor the status and resolution of all URS complaints and decisions.

29.4. Rights Protection Mechanisms – UDRP

CRR will specify in the Registry Agreement, all Registry-Registrar Agreements, and all Registration Agreements used in connection with the gTLD, that it will abide by all decisions made by panels in accordance with the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). CRR’s registrar will be tasked with receiving all UDRP complaints and decisions. After receiving a UDRP complaint about a domain name within the gTLD, the registrar will ensure that the domain name is locked within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of a UDRP complaint from the UDRP Provider and will notify CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact and the registrant. In the event of a determination in favor of the complainant, the registrant will notify the Abuse Point of Contact and the registry services provider to ensure that the registry cancels or transfers the domain name in a timely fashion as provided for by the decision. CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact will oversee and monitor the status and resolution of all UDRP complaints and decisions.

29.5. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Proven Registrars

CRR intends to utilize its parent company Google Inc. as its registrar, though it reserves the right to contract with other ICANN-accredited registrars in the future. CRR is committed to reducing abusive registrations, and will ensure that its registrar operates accordingly.

29.6. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Pre-Authorization and Authentication

It is anticipated that only Google and its affiliates will be eligible to register domain names within the gTLD. At no time during the life of the registry will CRR plan to offer domain name registrations to third-parties. CRR will staff an internal team that will pre-approve all registrations made in the gTLD by CRR and⁄or Google. CRR will thus verify that every prospective registrant is with CRR, Google or another affiliate of CRR.

In order to ensure that only Google and its authorized affiliates are authorized to register and operate domain names within the gTLD, CRR will authenticate registrant information by providing an email verification link sent to the registrant to confirm its email address. In addition, CRR will ensure proper access to domain functions by requiring multi-factor authentication from registrants to process update, transfer, and deletion requests.

No name will resolve until the registrant has been verified by the internal team as an eligible registrant.

29.7. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Grace Period

See Question 27 for a detailed discussion of CRR’s policies with respect to Add Grace Periods.

29.8. Rights Protection Mechanisms – Domain Anti-Abuse Policy

CRR will implement in its internal policies and its Registry-Registrar and Registration agreements that all registered domain names will be subject to a Domain Name Anti-Abuse Policy (“Policy”). See Question 28 for a detailed discussion of CRR’s Anti-Abuse Policy.

29.9. Resourcing

Google will implement these technical requirements using the teams and resources discussed below.

The cost of these services will generally be set at reasonable market rates per agreement between CRR and Google. The expected costs are discussed in Questions 46 and 47.

29.9.1. Registry Team

The Registry Team will be responsible for designing and implementing the SRS, EPP, and WHOIS systems, including implementation of the rights protection mechanisms. They will also be responsible for creating tests and monitoring for these systems.

During initial implementation, this team will consist of at least 4-7 software engineers responsible for implementing the project. Additionally, Google plans to staff one software engineer who is responsible for engineering testing and monitoring for the registry, and one software engineer who is responsible for backup, restoration and escrow. In total, Google plans to implement the registry with a team of 6-9 software engineers.

After the registry is complete, Google expects to staff a team to support the ongoing operation of the registry. This team will consist of at least four engineers who will participate in on-call rotation, respond to alerts, provide support to ICANN and registrars for emergency escalations, and maintain responsibility for bug fixes and improvements. This team will continue maintenance throughout the life of the registry.

This team’s responsibilities will generally be limited to registry-specific components. The Registry Team will work closely with other relevant teams, including the Authoritative DNS support team, Storage Site Reliability Engineering team, network engineering and operations, and customer support teams. These other teams are described in more detail in Question 31 (Section 31.16), as well as the relevant sections throughout this application.

29.9.1. Customer Service Team

The Customer Services Team will be responsible for supporting customers and partners, including responding to abusive registrations. Google has a very large existing customer service team of both internal staff as well as staff contracted through third parties, with many hundreds of dedicated staff members already in place. Since these teams and their management are already in place, no standalone implementation resources are needed.

To continue ongoing maintenance of CRR support needs, Google plans to add additional resources for capacity as needed. Google expects to add a total of approximately fifteen additional personnel (including both Google employees and outside vendors) to support all of CRR’s customers and partners. The individual staffing allocation to each gTLD is described in Question 47.

29.10. Summary and Key Insights

CRR is committed to implementing strong and integrated intellectual property rights protection mechanisms. Doing so is critical to Google’s goals of model Internet citizenship and fostering Internet development, especially in emerging regions. Accordingly, CRR intends to offer a suite of rights protection measures which builds upon ICANNʹs required policies while fulfilling our commitment to encouraging innovation, competition, and choice on the Internet.