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18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.babyAuburn Beach, LLCdonuts.coView
Q18A CHAR: 7985

ABOUT DONUTS
Donuts Inc. is the parent applicant for this and multiple other TLDs. The company intends to increase competition and consumer choice at the top level. It will operate these carefully selected TLDs safely and securely in a shared resources business model. To achieve its objectives, Donuts has recruited seasoned executive management with proven track records of excellence in the industry. In addition to this business and operational experience, the Donuts team also has contributed broadly to industry policymaking and regulation, successfully launched TLDs, built industry-leading companies from the ground up, and brought innovation, value and choice to the domain name marketplace.

DONUTS’ PLACE WITHIN ICANN’S MISSION
ICANN and the new TLD program share the following purposes:
1. to make sure that the Internet remains as safe, stable and secure as possible, while
2. helping to ensure there is a vibrant competitive marketplace to efficiently bring the benefits of the namespace to registrants and users alike.

ICANN harnesses the power of private enterprise to bring forth these public benefits. While pursuing its interests, Donuts helps ICANN accomplish its objectives by:

1. Significantly widening competition and choice in Internet identities with hundreds of new top-level domain choices;
2. Providing innovative, robust, and easy-to-use new services, names and tools for users, registrants, registrars, and registries while at the same time safeguarding the rights of others;
3. Designing, launching, and securely operating carefully selected TLDs in multiple languages and character sets; and
4. Providing a financially robust corporate umbrella under which its new TLDs will be protected and can thrive.

ABOUT DONUTS’ RESOURCES
Donuts’ financial resources are extensive. The company has raised more than US$100 million from a number of capital sources including multiple multi-billion dollar venture capital and private equity funds, a top-tier bank, and other well-capitalized investors. Should circumstances warrant, Donuts is prepared to raise additional funding from current or new investors. Donuts also has in place pre-funded, Continued Operations Instruments to protect future registrants. These resource commitments mean Donuts has the capability and intent to launch, expand and operate its TLDs in a secure manner, and to properly protect Internet users and rights-holders from potential abuse.

Donuts firmly believes a capable and skilled organization will operate multiple TLDs and benefit Internet users by:

1. Providing the operational and financial stability necessary for TLDs of all sizes, but particularly for those with smaller volume (which are more likely to succeed within a shared resources and shared services model);
2. Competing more powerfully against incumbent gTLDs; and
3. More thoroughly and uniformly executing consumer and rights holder protections.

THIS TLD
This TLD is attractive and useful to end-users as it better facilitates search, self-expression, information sharing and the provision of legitimate goods and services. Along with the other TLDs in the Donuts family, this TLD will provide Internet users with opportunities for online identities and expression that do not currently exist. In doing so, the TLD will introduce significant consumer choice and competition to the Internet namespace – the very purpose of ICANN’s new TLD program.

This TLD is a generic term and its second level names will be attractive to a variety of Internet users. Making this TLD available to a broad audience of registrants is consistent with the competition goals of the New TLD expansion program, and consistent with ICANN’s objective of maximizing Internet participation. Donuts believes in an open Internet and, accordingly, we will encourage inclusiveness in the registration policies for this TLD. In order to avoid harm to legitimate registrants, Donuts will not artificially deny access, on the basis of identity alone (without legal cause), to a TLD that represents a generic form of activity and expression.

DONUTS’ APPROACH TO PROTECTIONS
No entity, or group of entities, has exclusive rights to own or register second level names in this TLD. There are superior ways to minimize the potential abuse of second level names, and in this application Donuts will describe and commit to an extensive array of protections against abuse, including protections against the abuse of trademark rights.

We recognize some applicants seek to address harms by constraining access to the registration of second level names. However, we believe attempts to limit abuse by limiting registrant eligibility is unnecessarily restrictive and harms users by denying access to many legitimate registrants. Restrictions on second level domain eligibility would prevent law-abiding individuals and organizations from participating in a space to which they are legitimately connected, and would inhibit the sort of positive innovation we intend to see in this TLD. As detailed throughout this application, we have struck the correct balance between consumer and business safety, and open access to second level names.

By applying our array of protection mechanisms, Donuts will make this TLD a place for Internet users that is far safer than existing TLDs. Donuts will strive to operate this TLD with fewer incidences of fraud and abuse than occur in incumbent TLDs. In addition, Donuts commits to work toward a downward trend in such incidents.

OUR PROTECTIONS
Donuts has consulted with and evaluated the ideas of international law enforcement, consumer privacy advocacy organizations, intellectual property interests and other Internet industry groups to create a set of protections that far exceed those in existing TLDs, and bring to the Internet namespace nearly two dozen new rights and protection mechanisms to raise user safety and protection to a new level.

These include eight, innovative and forceful mechanisms and resources that far exceed the already powerful protections in the applicant guidebook. These are:

1. Periodic audit of WhoIs data for accuracy;
2. Remediation of inaccurate Whois data, including takedown, if warranted;
3. A new Domain Protected Marks List (DPML) product for trademark protection;
4. A new Claims Plus product for trademark protection;
5. Terms of use that prohibit illegal or abusive activity;
6. Limitations on domain proxy and privacy service;
7. Published policies and procedures that define abusive activity; and
8. Proper resourcing for all of the functions above.

They also include fourteen new measures that were developed specifically by ICANN for the new TLD process. These are:

1. Controls to ensure proper access to domain management functions;
2. 24⁄7⁄365 abuse point of contact at registry;
3. Procedures for handling complaints of illegal or abusive activity, including remediation and takedown processes;
4. Thick WhoIs;
5. Use of the Trademark Clearinghouse;
6. A Sunrise process;
7. A Trademark Claims process;
8. Adherence to the Uniform Rapid Suspension system;
9. Adherence to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy;
10. Adherence to the Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Policy;
11. Detailed security policies and procedures;
12. Strong security controls for access, threat analysis and audit;
13. Implementation DNSSEC; and
14. Measures for the prevention of orphan glue records.

DONUTS’ INTENTION FOR THIS TLD
As a senior government authority has recently said, “a successful applicant is entrusted with operating a critical piece of global Internet infrastructure.” Donuts’ plan and intent is for this TLD to serve the international community by bringing new users online through opportunities for economic growth, increased productivity, the exchange of ideas and information and greater self-expression.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.ticketsAccent Media Limitedcloudnames.comView
The mission of .TICKETS is to create a safe, secure & trusted global domain environment for online ticket sales, marketing, & promotions which is free from fraudulent activity.Fraudulent & deceptive activity includes the sale of fake or non-existent tickets, phishing, malware & other malicious attacks & the collection of personal details for sale to third parties.

.TICKETS websites & services will be trusted by consumers, supported by the global industries that use tickets & ticket services & relevant industry bodies, promoted by credit card providers, welcomed by consumer protection organisations & endorsed by law enforcement agencies. The .TICKETS TLD will be the cornerstone of a much-needed structural solution to a global multi-million dollar problem, providing a solution that transcends national legislative frameworks.

We will achieve our mission by:
- Creating a gated space for trusted, authentic ticket selling & other ticketing services by validating all registrants of second level domains in the .TICKETS namespace against a published set of eligibility criteria developed by sector specific industry and other bodies
- Monitoring & controlling the use & transfer of second level domains within & between eligible registrants
- Developing meaningful strategies & partnerships (with industry bodies, credit card companies, consumer protection organisations & law enforcement agencies) to provide the consumer education & awareness programme which will ensure that over time, Internet users requiring tickets or ticketing services will seek out only websites that use the .TICKETS domain. Consumers will trust that a .TICKETS domain will take them to authentic ticket vendors & service providers.

Background and context:
Despite the existence of major ticket service brands operating with strong consumer awareness, online ticket fraud is a multi-million dollar global industry. It occurs when victims purchase tickets for, for e.g, a music, sport, theatre or other activity (e.g air or other travel,gaming & lotteries) which are either counterfeit or do not materialise.These “tickets” are purchased from fake ticketing websites & through online auction & shopping sites.Fake websites arenʹt always easy to spot & criminals invest heavily in making them look legitimate & very professional. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief the presence of HTTPS does not necessarily means that a website is secure & not being used for fraudulent purposes.As users become more fraud-aware, online scammers are making increasing efforts to trick consumers into visiting fake ticketing websites.

Online ticket fraud is a growing global problem & one that is increasingly associated with worldwide organised crime. In the UK alone, ticket fraud in the sporting & entertainment industries costs consumers, credit card providers, and event organisers over US$264M per year in fraudulent transactions (Source: UK Home Office figures)& research carried out in September 2009 by the UK Office of Fair Trading identified that 1 in 5 people know of someone who has bought “tickets” from a fake ticketing website. In the airline industry, 0.9% of global online airline ticket sales were lost to online fraud in 2010 amounting to US$1.4BN.The global challenge of online ticketing fraud extends to major global sporting events such as the Olympics. For e.g a fraudulent ticketing site www.beijingticketing.com sold over USD$50M of non-existent tickets. Interpol president Khoo Boon Hui said in May 2012 that organised international gangs are behind most Internet scams & that the estimated cost of cybercrime is more than that of cocaine, heroin & marijuana trafficking combined. The impact of online ticket fraud transcends unwitting consumers who buy fake or non-existent tickets. The knock-on effects are felt by many others, including brand owners (as domain names for websites often contain strings associated with them), entertainment venue & ticket collection outlets (who are faced with consumers arriving to collect non-existent tickets), credit card companies (who can suffer charge-backs where this consumer protection applies) & event organisers (who may endure charge-back costs assessed against them by their payment providers). In addition to online ticket fraud, fake ticketing sites may also put consumers at risk from phishing, malware & other malicious attacks. Also, personal information, such as credit card details, collected from fake ticketing sites may be sold on to third parties.

Our goals & objectives:
1. Enhance consumer protection by providing a safe & secure global domain space for tickets - by creating a gated space available for authentic ticket sellers, marketers and promoters which has strict entry requirements (eligibility criteria), strictly policed and enforced & with ongoing compliance monitoring.
2. Allow Internet users to easily & unmistakably identify trusted ticketing websites (for example, “For safety guaranteed, look for .TICKETS in the URL”) & raise consumer awareness by educating the public - which will be achieved through implementing a comprehensive & carefully researched marketing plan which will maximise awareness of the .TICKETS domain space.
3. Continue to build coalition partnerships & further develop our reputation as representing the interests, & acting as a trusted partner, of the global ticketing industries, ensuring that our policies & operations are technically excellent & fit for purpose, relevant & not unduly burdensome.
4. Operate the .TICKETS Registry impartially, responsibly & with integrity so as to promote a fair marketplace for the ticketing industry - through developing fair & transparent eligibility criteria & procedures for multiple application & dispute resolution, which will be sub-sector specific & developed in conjunction with relevant industry bodies.
5. Promote the Internet as a trusted global resource & contribute positively to the evolution of the domain name system.
6. Ensure the .TICKETS Registry is operated by an organisation with strong financial viability & longevity, supported by sound business practices & good governance, with strong management that has appropriate breadth & depth of experience.

Accent Media will involve the ticketing industry in developing the policies it will apply to the .TICKETS domain. In so doing, it will create a policy-making procedure that balances the participation of members of the ticketing industry with consultation and advice from consumer groups and others, such as law enforcement agencies. An advisory board will be convened for each industry sub-sector. The Registry shall appoint a policy officer who shall be responsible for assisting, drafting & revising all policies in liaison with the advisory boards. The advisory boards’ recommendations shall be delivered to the Registry’s executive committee for approval.

Summary: Our proposal for the .TICKETS domain space will promote diversification of the TLD namespace by introducing an innovative model that has safety and security at its core; in so doing playing its part in enhancing trust in the Internet. We will contribute to increasing competition in domain registration services through the independent operation of a TLD namespace that shall be accessible to businesses serving the global ticketing industry, rather than reserved for any single entity. At the heart of our business model will be our alliances with a wide range of stakeholders within both the private & public sectors and with whom we shall partner in developing fair & transparent policies that promote competition in the ticketing marketplace alongside consumer protection standards. We shall protect & promote the interests of consumers by creating a safe & secure environment for online ticket sales, marketing, & promotions which is free from fraudulent activity, promoted through global marketing & educational campaigns conducted in conjunction with our alliance partners.