Internet protocols

Who changes, wins

by .Nxt | 11 Jul 2012 |

The organization that can keep pace with the Internet is destined to walk away with the rights to govern the global network

Who will break free from its cocoon first: ICANN, the IGF or ITU?

The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress
-- Charles Kettering

Charles Kettering was a most remarkable American. As an inventor, engineer and businessman, he made many of modern life's luxuries possible, including the car (he invented the start motor) and the refrigerator (invented Freon). He also moved Henry Ford's famous black automobile into the world of color by developing lacquered paints suitable for mass-production.

Kettering was a fierce believer in change. "If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong," he once said. And he was damning about people's inability to see what changes needed to be made and why. "People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like the old ones," he warned.

style

Generic

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

1670

Members only

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Applicant

Evolving Style Registry Inc.

26 Auriga Drive

Ottawa

Ontario

K2E 8B7

Canada

Phone:

+16132252000

Fax:

+16138200777

Registry services

ARI Registry Services

Legal establishment

Corporation

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

Each of us defines style in our own way. What we wear, how we live, who we want to be are all expressions of our personal style. It is a personal expression that can find inspiration anyplace, at any moment. At the same time there are a set of inter-related industries that cater to our sense of style – and our need to express it.
From the clothing designer who knows what the world will want in six months, to the homebuilder who understood the need to make the kitchen larger and the living room smaller, to the chef who, after years of creating constructed dishes that rose high off a plate, made the move to a more home-style menu. Each of these people understood that style defines us and that people define style.
Style is no longer the domain of any one class or culture. It is a domain open to all. The .STYLE registry intends to be that domain open to all.
The seminal moment in the emergence of style as a daily part of life may have come in 1999 when Target, a large, U.S.-based, mass-market retailer, partnered with Michael Graves, a well-known designer of highly valued products. As has often been reported, the injection of style into the everyday helped establish Targetʹs ʺcheap chicʺ reputation, which it since has expanded by partnering with dozens of other designers from a variety of fields.
Today everyone not only has a style but is aware of style.
Neither is a deal with a major retailer necessary to offer products and services or promote that personal sense of style. In fact, the low barrier to entry has led to an explosion of new businesses and consumer interest in style. The .STYLE registry intends to give the people and companies that have an interest in style a common ground to interact.
By building an easy-to-locate, “central town square,” available 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, 365 days-a-year, the .STYLE registry can become recognized not just for large companies, but for the start-ups and small companies anywhere around the world that seek to earn public endorsement – and sales.
Our mission is to give consumers, entrepreneurs and institutions committed to adding style to daily life a new address and new tools to make it happen even as the registry gives assurances to those looking that they have found a set of resources that can be trusted.

Geographic

Protections:

We have engaged ARI Registry Services (ARI) to deliver services for .STYLE. This response describes protection of geographic names as implemented by ARI.

1 PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

In accordance with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, the registry operator must initially reserve all geographic names at the second level, and at all other levels within the TLD at which the registry operator provides for registrations.
ARI supports this requirement by using the following internationally recognised lists to develop a comprehensive master list of all geographic names that are initially reserved:
– The 2-letter alpha-2 code of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including all reserved and unassigned codes [http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm].
– The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 List, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union [http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU].
– The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardisation of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World. This lists the names of 193 independent States generally recognised by the international community in the language or languages used in an official capacity within each country and is current as of August 2006 [http:⁄⁄unstats.un.org⁄unsd⁄geoinfo⁄ungegn%20tech%20ref%20manual_M87_combined.pdf].
– The list of UN member states in six official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardisation of Geographical Names [http:⁄⁄unstats.un.org⁄unsd⁄geoinfo⁄UNGEGN⁄docs⁄9th-uncsgn-docs⁄econf⁄9th_UNCSGN_e-conf-98-89-add1.pdf].
Names on this reserved list in ARI’s registry system are prevented from registration.
A corresponding list of geographic names will also be available to the public via the registry operators website, to inform Registrars and potential registrants of reserved names. The lists noted above, are regularly monitored for revisions, therefore the reserved list (both within the registry and publicly facing) will be continually updated to reflect any changes.
In addition to these requirements, ARI are able to support the wishes of the Governmental Advisory Council (GAC) or any individual Government in regard to the blocking of individual terms on a case by case basis. ARI’s registry system allows such additions to be made by appropriately authorised staff, with no further system development changes required.
The following applies to all Domain Names contained within the registry’s reserved list:
– Attempts to register listed Domain Names will be rejected.
– WhoIs queries for listed Domain Names will receive responses indicating their reserved status.
– Reserved geographic names will not appear in the TLD zone file.
– DNS queries for reserved domain names will result in an NXDOMAIN response.

2 PROCEDURES FOR RELEASE

We understand that if we wish to release the reserved names at a later date, this will require agreement from the relevant government(s) or review by the GAC, and subsequent approval from ICANN.

Application file

1-2081-48775_STYLE.html

stroke

Brand

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

395

Government objection(s):

Australia

Members only

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Applicant

American Heart Association, Inc.

7272 Greenville Avenue

Dallas

Texas

75231

United States

Phone:

+1 214 373 6300

Fax:

+1 214 706 5239

http://www.heart.org

Government objection(s)

Explanation:

Competition: American Heart Association, Inc. is seeking exclusive access to a common generic string (.stroke).

Reason/Rationale:

The proposed string, .stroke, is a common generic term.

American Heart Association, Inc. is proposing to exclude any other entities, including other legitimate users, from using the TLD.

Restricting common generic strings for the exclusive use of a single entity could have unintended consequences, including a negative impact on competition.

Early warnings provide a mechanism to initiate a discussion between a government and an applicant on particular issues or questions. It is intended that a constructive dialogue through this process will assist applicants to better understand the concerns of governments, and help governments to better understand the planned operation of proposed gTLDs.

Possible Remediation:

American Heart Association, Inc. should specify transparent criteria for third party access to the TLD. These criteria should be appropriate for the types of risk associated with the TLD, and should not set anti-competitive or discriminatory conditions relating to access by third parties.

These criteria should form part of any binding contract with ICANN, and be subject to clear compliance oversight by ICANN.

Further Notes:

This Early Warning is from the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), on behalf of the Australian Government. In the first instance, communications and responses to this early warning should be emailed to gacearlywarning@gac.icann.org, with the text “Australian EW” and the application ID in the subject field.

Registry services

Afilias

Legal establishment

Non-profit

not-profit institution

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

The mission of the .STROKE TLD is to provided a unified and consistent communications and fundraising platform which will be used to communicate and carryout the American Stroke Associationʹs mission of saving people from heart disease and stroke.

Under the unified and consistent communications, fundraising and advocacy platform of .STROKE, the American Stroke Association (ASA) will aggregate its educational and fundraising campaigns, promote and publicize outstanding research, make accessible information about hospitals and local centers providing a high standard of care for stroke patients, and highlight other activities designed to support ASA’s mission which is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

The ASA is a division of American Heart Association. The ASA was created in 1997, and is dedicated to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of stroke, a leading cause of serious disability and America’s number 4 killer. At ASA, we fund scientific research, help people better understand and avoid stroke, encourage government support, guide healthcare professionals and provide information to enhance the quality of life for stroke survivors.

Our parent organization, and the applicant for .STROKE is the American Heart Association (AHA). From here on out in the document, we will refer to the AHA rather than the ASA, even if, strictly speaking, the activities or campaigns we refer to are being undertaken by the ASA. We will refer only to the AHA because:
o The ASA is a division of the larger organization, the AHA
o The AHA is the actual applicant for .STROKE

The AHA was founded in 1924 by six cardiologists in New York. We relocated our current headquarters to Dallas, Texas, in 1975. AHA is proud to be the oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting cardiovascular diseases in the United States. Since 1949, we have funded more than $3.3 billion in research on cardiovascular disease, more research than any organization in the US outside the federal government. We have 150 local offices, 2600 employees, and 22.5 million volunteers and supporters, all of whom will be served by the .STROKE platform.

More than 82 million people around the world suffer from one or more forms of cardiovascular disease, and stroke is Americaʹs No. 4 killer – killing more than 140,000 annually in the US, and many more worldwide. The .STROKE TLD will serve as a united platform to allow us to aggregate all of our campaigns, communication, education, research and key stakeholders in a unified and consistent way that will directly advance our aggressive health goal of reducing heart disease in the US by 20% by 2020 and saving people worldwide from heart disease.

Operational rules

Pricing:

As mentioned above, the .STROKE TLD is intended to become our own unified branding, marketing and communications platform. Therefore immediate adoption and usage is key to achieving the envisioned benefits of the TLD. AHA plans to use certain .STROKE domain names immediately such as ‘donate.stroke” to encourage uptake and adoption.
As a very small and closed TLD only for AHA’s purposes, bulk discounts or any pricing is not applicable Therefore we anticipate no need for bulk discounts, advantageous pricing or other schemes which are irrelevant and thus not needed.

Geographic

Protections:

Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement requires the registry operator reserve all geographic names at the second level as well as any subordinate levels for which the operator controls and issues registrations. As per the draft registry agreement “the country and territory names contained in the following internationally recognized lists shall be initially reserved at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry Operator provides for registrations”:

5.1)

the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-
1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is
exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 toany application needing to represent the name European Union 〈http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166--1_decoding_table.htm#EU〉;

5.2)

the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference
Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of
the World; and
5.3)

the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared
by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the
Standardization of Geographical Names;

Release of Geographic Names at the second or subordinate level (where managed and issued by the Registry Operator):
.STROKE has no current or immediate plans to release any of the aforementioned reserved geographic domains. AHA commits to, in the event this intention changes in the future, first develop agreements with the applicable governments affected by any proposed release, then bring said agreements and a full plan for the release of said geographic names to the Governmental Advisory Committee and ICANN for their approval.

Application file

1-1483-31708_STROKE.html

stream

Generic

Brand

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

1447

Members only

Applicant

Hughes Satellite Systems Corporation

100 Inverness Terrace East

Englewood

Colorado

80112

United States

Phone:

+01 303 706 4000

Fax:

+01 301 428 2818

http://www.hughes.com

Registry services

Afilias

Legal establishment

Corporation

Colorado

United States

Parent company:

EchoStar Corporation

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

(a) Describe the mission⁄purpose of your proposed gTLD

Hughes Satellite Systems Corporation (“Applicant”) is the world’s leading provider of satellite broadband for home and office, delivering innovative network technologies and managed network services for enterprises and governments in more than 100 countries, but primarily in North America. Applicant is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation,, a premier global provider of satellite operations and digital TV solutions. Among the many offerings of Applicant and its affiliates are HughesNet®, the market’s #1 high-speed satellite Internet service; Sling Media’s award-winning Sling® technology; and Move Networks™ adaptive bit-rate streaming technology. The Applicant’s EchoStar Satellite Services segment leases satellite capacity on a full-time and occasional-use basis primarily to DISH Network; and to Dish Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V., the United States government service providers, state agencies, Internet service providers, broadcast news organizations, programmers, and private enterprise customers. This segment uses its 10 owned and leased in-orbit satellites and related Federal Communications Commission licenses. The Applicant also provides managed services to large enterprises; and networking systems solutions to customers for mobile satellite and wireless backhaul systems. The Applicant was formerly known as EH Holding Corporation and changed its name to Hughes Satellite Systems Corporation in October 2011. The Applicant is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado. Hughes Satellite Systems Corporation operates as a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation.
Applicant seeks the proposed .stream gTLD as a restricted, exclusively-controlled gTLD for the purpose of expanding Applicant and its affiliated entities’ ability to:
• create a connected digital presence and personalized brand experience for customers and other business partners;
• deliver product and service marketing⁄advertising;
• enable marketing campaign activation;
• facilitate secure interaction and communication with individuals and entities with whom Applicant has a business relationship;
• improve business operations;
• simplify Internet user navigation to information about Applicant products and services;
• demonstrate market leadership in protecting customer privacy and confidential information online; and
• meet future client expectations and competitive market demands.

Operational rules

Pricing:

This question is not applicable to a restricted, exclusively-controlled, self-funded TLD, like the proposed .stream TLD.

Geographic

Protections:

We will protect names with national or geographic significance by reserving the country and territory names at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD, as per the requirements in the New TLD Registry Agreement (Specification 5, paragraph 5).
We will employ a series of rules to translate the geographical names required to be reserved by Specification 5, paragraph 5 to a form consistent with the ʺʺhost namesʺʺ format used in domain names.
Considering the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) advice “Principles regarding new gTLDs”, these domains will be blocked, at no cost to governments, public authorities, or IGOs, before the TLD is introduced (Sunrise), so that no parties may apply for them. We will publish a list of these names before Sunrise, so our registrars and their prospective applicants can be aware that these names are reserved.
As defined by Specification 5, paragraph 5, such geographic domains may be released to the extent that Registry Operator reaches agreement with the applicable government(s). Registry operator will work with respective GAC representatives of the country’s relevant Ministry of Department to obtain their release of the names to the Registry Operator.
If internationalized domains names (IDNs) are introduced in the TLD in the future, we will also reserve the IDN versions of the country names in the relevant script(s) before IDNs become available to the public. If we find it advisable and practical, we will confer with relevant language authorities so that we can reserve the IDN domains properly along with their variants.
Regarding GAC advice regarding second-level domains not specified via Specification 5, paragraph 5: All domains awarded to registrants are subject to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy (UDRP), and to any properly-situated court proceeding. We will ensure appropriate procedures to allow governments, public authorities or IGO’s to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level. In its registry-registrar agreement, and flowing down to registrar-registrant agreements, the registry operator will institute a provision to suspend domains names in the event of a dispute. We may exercise that right in the case of a dispute over a geographic name.ʺ

Application file

1-2002-31471_STREAM.html

store

Generic

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

1041

Members only

Applicant

Dot Store Group LLC

5936 Limestone Road Suite 101

Hockessin

Delaware

19707

United States

Phone:

+13027664100

Fax:

+18663791926

http://www.thedotstore.com

Registry services

Neustar

Legal establishment

Corporation

Limited Liability Corporation

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

The .store mission is to provide a dedicated, safe, trusted, organized and recognizable Internet community on the World Wide Web for all retail (brick & mortar) and Internet-based stores. Our goal is to provide a well-known address for the existing e-commerce merchant community and leverage their interest and strength in numbers to spur increased business growth and innovation in the e-commerce world.

Geographic

Protections:

PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

5.1)

the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is

exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union 〈http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166--1_decoding_table.htm#EU〉;

5.2)

the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference

Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of

the World; and

5.3)

the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared

by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the

Standardization of Geographical Names;

Release of Geographic Names at the second or subordinate level (where managed and issued by the Registry Operator):

.Store has no current or immediate plans to release any of the aforementioned reserved geographic domains. .Store commits to, in the event this intention changes in the future, first develop agreements with the applicable governments affected by any proposed release, then bring said agreements and a full plan for the release of said geographic names to the Governmental Advisory Committee and ICANN for their approval.

Future Plans for City Names:

Whereas .store recognizes that ICANN (as per Specification 5 of the new gTLD agreement) has no specific geographic name restrictions in regards to city names, .store believes its important to engage affected governments in regards to our city name plans. .Store will be including a select list of city names in its premium domain program (as mentioned in Q. 18). Our intention is to eventually develop a release plan of these city names that offers the opportunity for appropriate city governments or related bodies (such as Boards of Trades or Chambers of Commerce) to participate. Upon developing this plan, Dot Store Group LLC intends to, if permitted, present the plan to the Governmental Advisory Committee and ask for formal comments⁄feedback on the proposal. Following this we will assess comments provided and consider informed adjustments that improve the plan accordingly before implementation.

Application file

1-1789-97294_STORE.html

store

Generic

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

1478

Members only

Applicant

Charleston Road Registry Inc.

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway

Mountain View

California

94043

United States

Phone:

+1 650 253 0000

Fax:

+1 650 253 0001

Registry services

Google

Legal establishment

Corporation

Parent company:

Google Inc.

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

18.a. Mission⁄Purpose of the Proposed gTLD

Charleston Road Registry is an American company, wholly owned by Google, which was established to provide registry services to the Internet public. Google is an American multinational public corporation and global technology leader focused on improving the ways its hundreds of millions of users connect with information. Since its formation, Google has been developing technology that can improve upon existing ways of doing business on the Internet. Google provides a variety of services and tools for Internet users and advertisers of all sizes, from simple search features and local ads to enterprise-scale business applications and global advertising solutions. These tools make it easier for people to make use of the world’s information and enable entrepreneurs and publishers around the world to grow their businesses.

In line with Google’s general mission, Charleston Road Registry’s mission is to help make information universally accessible by extending the utility of the DNS while enhancing the performance, security and stability of the Internet for users worldwide. Charleston Road Registry aspires to create unique web spaces where users can learn about products, services and information in a targeted manner and in ways never before seen on the Internet. Its business objective is to manage Google’s gTLD portfolio and Google’s registry operator business. As discussed further in the responses to questions 23 and 31, Charleston Road Registry intends to outsource all critical registry functions to Google Registry Services.

The proposed gTLD will provide the marketplace with direct association to the term, ʺstore.ʺ The mission of this gTLD, .store, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which registrants can enact second-level domains that provide content relating to brick and mortar and⁄or online retail stores. This mission will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain. Charleston Road Registry believes that registrants will find value in associating with this gTLD, which could have a vast array of purposes for businesses, organizations or individuals seeking to associate with the term ʺstore.ʺ This assertion is supported by J.P. Morganʹs projection that the global online retail market will exceed $900 billion by 2013 [Source: http:⁄⁄techcrunch.com⁄2011⁄01⁄03⁄j-p-morgan-global-e-commerce-revenue-to-grow-by-19-percent-in-2011-to-680b⁄].

The proposed gTLD will also provide Charleston Road Registry with the means to meet its business objectives.

Operational rules

Pricing:

While Charleston Road Registry reserves the right to charge different prices for unique second-level domains within the gTLD, once Charleston Road Registry determines the price for a particular second-level domain, Charleston Road Registry will not price discriminate among ICANN-accredited registrars. Charleston Road Registry does not intend but reserves the right to offer introductory discounts and bulk registration discounts. Volume discounts, marketing support and incentive programs may be made available, and if so will be offered to all ICANN-accredited registrars without preference.

Geographic

Protections:

As specified throughout this application, Charleston Road Registry (CRR) plans to implement comprehensive anti-abuse mechanisms. CRR will protect against the abusive registration of geographic names at the second and other levels in the applied-for gTLD by reserving to the registry protected geographic names in order to prevent registration of such strings.

In that regard, CRR has thoroughly reviewed Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement, the Government Advisory Committee’s (GAC) “Principles Regarding New gTLDs”, and the .info methodology for reservation and release of country names. Accordingly, CRR will, in connection with its registry services operator and registrar, initially reserve from registration by any party names with national or geographic significance within the TLD during the TLD’s Sunrise Period and Trademark Claims Period.

The names with national or geographic significance (hereto referred to as “geographic names”) that will be initially blocked are those specified in Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, namely:

(1) The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union;
(2) The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and
(3) The list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

As noted above, the top-level domain shall not permit the public to register domain names with national or geographic significant at the second-level. The names will be set aside by use of the Reserved state making them inaccessible (See response to Question 27 for details). Google, as the registry services provider, has arranged for such reservation to occur prior to the launch of the TLD.

In the event there is a compelling use of a two-character geographic name, the two-character label string may be released to the extent that CRR reaches agreement with the government and country-code manager and consults with the GAC and ICANN. The Registry may also propose the future release of these reserved names based on the implementation by the prospective registrant of measures to avoid confusion with the corresponding country codes.

As with the .info TLD, only if a potential second-level domain registrant makes a proper showing of governmental support for country or territorial names will CRR relay this request to ICANN. CRR also plans to consult with the GAC and of ICANN before proceeding to delegate the domain at issue.

Application file

1-1681-60225_STORE-1.html

store

Generic

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

968

Members only

Applicant

DotStore Inc.

F⁄19, BC1, Ras Al Khaimah FTZ, P.O Box #16113

Ras Al Khaimah Ras Al Khaimah

16113

United Arab Emirates

Phone:

+14153580831

Fax:

+15126847732

http://www.radixregistry.com

Registry services

ARI Registry Services

Legal establishment

Corporation

International Business Company

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

It was the 4th century when modern Bazaars first evolved in the Middle East. Commerce centers quickly rose to vast centers of exchange such as the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, the Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg, and the Burlington Arcade in London, and eventually, to the modern shopping malls of today. The birth of centers of exchange and their countless shops evolved from a need for efficiency through centralization. People and businesses alike needing to purchase or sell goods could find an assured concentration of opportunity and competition without having to travel far and wide to attain a variety of different goods.

It has taken centuries to evolve physical centers of exchange and commerce (bazars, markets, malls); each with their own established reputations and credibility (or in some cases lack thereof). The greatest limit of these commerce centers is the need to be present in person to assess products and negotiate competitive pricing. While centralized shopping evolved to reduce this effort, in the face of busy hectic lives of consumers, there was room for even greater efficiency.

Hence, when the Internet became more user friendly with graphical interfaces, we quickly saw electronic commerce (e-commerce) spring into existence. Early e-commerce was seen from specialized businesses like Pizza Hut, to broader Internet store fronts like Ebay and Amazon. Many consumers that struggled with physically shopping quickly embraced the ease of online buying. However, as fast as the Internet grew from that point on, the associated commerce services have grown in lockstep and today it’s a mind boggling potpourri of websites - selling an even greater number of products. Every open gTLD represents a vast collection of web services, much of them focused on shopping sites and services. However, even with the help of search engines, online shopping networks, and other secondary services, it is growing increasingly more difficult for consumers to quickly identify what are actual shopping sites versus content or informational services. When you walk into an open-air market in the Middle East, you know the vendors are there to sell their product. Similarly, we seek to create a domain space where the Internet user is immersed in a global on-line bazaar, able to easily find goods, obtain deals and shop with confidence.

The mission⁄purpose of .Store is to facilitate business-to-consumer (B2C) shopping on the Internet by creating a virtual theme around a defined domain space. The .Store extension is intended to provide the registrant an immediately recognized domain name that tells customers the registrant’s products or services can be purchased online. It is a TLD string with the empirical meaning of commerce that will self-select⁄associate registrants. Each registrant will be responsible for developing their unique shopping experience based upon their products, services and market. The goal of the .Store brand is to provide registrants a domain extension that clearly informs consumers that they can shop here.

The Mission and purpose of our TLD is also to contribute to the Internet Namespace in the following ways:

1.1 ENHANCE REGISTRANT CHOICE

To create a namespace that provides registrants greater choice to represent themselves online in the manner they please. Due to the saturated nature of the existing gTLD space, many Internet users have to opt for a name that does not suit their needs best. Our Registry will provide Registrants a higher probability of obtaining their desired name.

1.2 CREATE A CLEANER INTERNET SPACE

To create a cleaner internet experience for end users by implementing pioneering registration policies, content and usage policies, and abuse mitigation processes.

1.3 CREATE A STABLE AND RESILIENT INTERNET SPACE

To deliver a stable and resilient internet experience to registrants and end-users by going above and beyond the ICANN mandated SLAs and delivering 100% resolution uptime

Welcome to the global, on-line bazar, where every vendor stall is a website, the market is open all hours of the day and a deal is just a quick response code away. Welcome to the .Store registry – your virtual global market.

This completes our answer to Q18(a)

Operational rules

Pricing:

The ICANN new gTLD program marks a historical event in the timeline of the Internet. It is an unprecedented event and one that will yield tremendous benefits for consumers. At this preliminary stage it is impossible to determine the true value consumers will derive from increase in competition and choice. However there is historical data to go by. Upon the launch of Domain Registrars and creation of competition amongst registrars, the Registrants benefited from reduced pricing.

With .Store our goal is to provide fair pricing for domains within .Store that reflect the value proposition derived by the Registrants of .Store. While we do not have any committed pricing plans as yet and the same will be determined during the launch process, we do anticipate providing promotional offers through the life of .Store for the purpose of customer acquisition. This is not too dissimilar from other gTLD registries currently in existence who offer ongoing promotional offers to their customer base.

Geographic

Protections:

We have engaged ARI Registry Services (ARI) to deliver services for this TLD. This response describes protection of geographic names as implemented by ARI.

1. PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

In accordance with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, we will initially reserve all geographic names at the second level, and at all other levels within the TLD at which the registry operator provides for registrations.
ARI supports this requirement by using the following internationally recognised lists to develop a comprehensive master list of all geographic names that are initially reserved:

– The 2-letter alpha-2 code of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including all reserved and unassigned codes [http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm].
– The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 List, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union [http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU].
– The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardisation of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World. This lists the names of 193 independent States generally recognised by the international community in the language or languages used in an official capacity within each country and is current as of August 2006[http:⁄⁄unstats.un.org⁄unsd⁄geoinfo⁄ungegn⁄docs⁄pubs⁄UNGEGN%20tech%20ref%20manual_m87_combined.pdf].
– The list of UN member states in six official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardisation of Geographical Names [http:⁄⁄unstats.un.org⁄unsd⁄geoinfo⁄UNGEGN⁄docs⁄9th-uncsgn-docs⁄econf⁄9th_UNCSGN_e-conf-98-89-add1.pdf].
Names on this reserved list in ARI’s registry system are prevented from registration.
A corresponding list of geographic names will also be available to the public via our website, to inform Registrars and potential registrants of reserved names. The lists noted above, are regularly monitored for revisions, therefore the reserved list (both within the registry and publicly facing) will be continually updated to reflect any changes.

In addition to these requirements, ARI are able to support the wishes of the Governmental Advisory Council (GAC) or any individual Government in regard to the blocking of individual terms on a case by case basis. ARI’s registry system allows such additions to be made by appropriately authorised staff, with no further system development changes required.

The following applies to all Domain Names contained within the registry’s reserved list:
– Attempts to register listed Domain Names will be rejected.
– WhoIs queries for listed Domain Names will receive responses indicating their reserved status.
– Reserved geographic names will not appear in the TLD zone file.
– DNS queries for reserved domain names will result in an NXDOMAIN response.

2. PROCEDURES FOR RELEASE

We understand that if we wish to release the reserved names at a later date, this will require agreement from the relevant government(s) or review by the GAC, and subsequent approval from ICANN.

This completes our response to Q22.

Application file

1-1052-82517_STORE.html

storage

Generic

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

735

Members only

Applicant

Self Storage Company LLC

2795 E. Cottonwood Parkway Suite 400

Salt Lake City

Utah

84121

United States

Phone:

+01 801 365 4501

Fax:

+01 801 365 4801

Registry services

Afilias

Legal establishment

Corporation

Limited Liability Company

Parent company:

Extra Space Management Inc.

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

18.1 Mission and Purpose of the .STORAGE gTLD

Self Storage Company LLC (“Self Storage LLC”) has filed this application for the .STORAGE gTLD with the intention of bringing to market a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for the membership network of businesses, individuals and organization having a meaningful nexus to the self storage sector, ( the “Storage Network”) including but not limited to, self storage companies; companies providing management services to self storage companies, companies owning real estate used or intended to be used for self storage, self storage trade associations, and entities offering products and services aimed primarily at self storage industry.

According to statistics from the Self Storage Association, a thirty-five year non-profit association, which serves as the official trade organization in the US and international self storage industry, the self storage sector has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in the US commercial real estate industry over the last 35 years. According to recent statistic, out of 58,000 self storage facilities located world wide, approximately 46,500 were located in the United States. While the top-5 self storage companies (four of which are publicly traded companies), own and operate some 4,850 self storage facilities, the majority of self storage facilities (over 27,000) are owned and operated by a single entity. The facilities in the US alone account for 2.22 billion square feet of space. These facilities accounted for over $22 billion in revenue and $3 billion in local property taxes. See http:⁄⁄www.selfstorage.org⁄ssa⁄Content⁄NavigationMenu⁄AboutSSA⁄FactSheet⁄default.htm

18.1.2 Proposed Business Model

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. This gTLD will provide a network of online resources for members of the sector served by the Storage Network, as well the customers that they serve.

Operational rules

Pricing:

Self Storage LLC will evaluate all potential pricing schemes in consultation with its backend registry provider as well as with its industry consultants before, during and after launch. Given, the potential paradigm shift that is likely to occur within the domain name industry as a result of ICANN’s most recent round of new gTLDs, the Self Storage LLC is neither committing to nor excluding any potential pricing schemes⁄options.

Geographic

Protections:

22 Self Storage LLC Has Properly Researched This Topic

Self Storage Company LLC (Self Storage LLC) is keenly aware of the sensitivity of national governments in connection with protecting country and territory identifiers in the Domain Name System (DNS). In preparation for answering this question, Self Storage LLC reviewed the following relevant background material regarding the protection of geographic names in the DNS:

• ICANN Board Resolution 01-92 regarding the methodology developed for the reservation and release of country names in the .INFO top-level domain, see http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄minutes⁄minutes-10sep01.htm;
• ICANN’s Proposed Action Plan on .INFO Country Names, see http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄meetings⁄montevideo⁄action-plan-country-names-09oct01.htm;
• Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process – The Recognition and Rights and the Use of Names in the Internet Domain Name System, Section 6, Geographical Identifiers, see http:⁄⁄www.wipo.int⁄amc⁄en⁄processes⁄process2⁄report⁄html⁄report.html;
• ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Principles Regarding New gTLDs, see https:⁄⁄gacweb.icann.org⁄download⁄attachments⁄1540128⁄gTLD_principles_0.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1312358178000;
• ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization Reserved Names Working Group – Final Report, see http:⁄⁄gnso.icann.org⁄issues⁄new-gtlds⁄final-report-rn-wg-23may07.htm.

22.1 Initial Reservation of Country and Territory Names

Self Storage LLC is committed to initially reserving the country and territory names contained in the internationally recognized lists described in Article 5 of Specification 5 attached to the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook at the second level and all other levels within the .STORAGE generic top-level domain (gTLD) at which it will provide for registrations. Specifically, Self Storage LLC will reserve:

1. The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union, see http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166- 1_decoding_table.htm - EU;

2. The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and

3. The list of United Nations member states in six official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

22.2 Fair & Non-Misleading Use of Geographical Identifiers

Self Storage LLC believes the use of geographical identifiers to the left of the TLD and as part of the domain name itself can have a direct and material impact on search engine algorithms and their corresponding query results. In addition, such naming conventions are intuitive and practiced by direct navigation Internet users (those that type their intended destination into address bars as opposed to search engines). As ICANN has largely premised this new gTLD round on promoting innovation, Self Storage LLC would like to see if this type of hierarchical and intuitive use of second-level domain names within its gTLD provides increased consumer functionality.

22.3 The Legal Protection of Geographical Identifiers

One of the more authoritative resources on the current state of the law in connection with the protection of geographical identifiers was authored by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in its 2001 “Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process: The Recognition of Rights and the Use of Names in the Internet Domain Name System” report. Chapter six of this report was devoted exclusively to the protection of geographical identifiers.

From its analysis of the well-established framework against the misuse of geographical identifiers at the international, regional, and national levels, WIPO identified the following two elements for the protection of geographical identifiers: (i) a prohibition of false descriptions of the geographical source of goods; and (ii) a more extensive set of rules prohibiting the misuse of one class of geographical source indicators, known as geographical indications, see “Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process” (Paragraphs 206 and 210). Neither of these elements is present in Self Storage LLC’s current or proposed use of geographical identifiers.

Notwithstanding WIPO’s recommendation that the protection of geographical identifiers is “a difficult area on which views are not only divided, but also ardently held” (Paragraph 237), national governments within the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and other international fora have continued to advocate for increased safeguards to protect against the misuse of geographical identifiers within the DNS.

Self Storage LLC seeks to minimize any potential business practices that might mislead consumers. At the same time, however, Self Storage LLC believes that it is important to be able to use geographical identifiers in a fair and non-misleading manner, if such use can benefit Internet users as proposed in its business model.

22.4 Fair & Non-Misleading Use of Geographical Identifiers

In undertaking a thorough research of this subject matter prior to filing this application, Self Storage LLC’s subject matter experts were able to uncover the following representative sampling of fair and non-misleading use of geographical identifiers used in the existing gTLD domain name space:

Fair Use of National Geographical Identifiers

AUSTRALIA.COOP – Is operated by Co-operatives Australia, the national body for State Co-operative Federations, and provides a valuable resource about co-operatives within Australia.

UK.COOP – Is operated by Co-operatives UK, the national trade body that campaigns for co-operation and works to promote, develop, and unite co-operative enterprises within the United Kingdom.

NZ.COOP – Is operated by the New Zealand Cooperatives Association, which brings together the country’s co-operative mutual businesses in a not-for-profit incorporated society.

USA.JOBS – Is operated by DirectEmployers Association (DE). While Employ Media, the registry operator of the .JOBS gTLD, is currently in a dispute with ICANN regarding the allocation of this and other domain names, DE has a series of partnerships and programs with the United States Department of Labor, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, and Facebook to help unemployed workers find jobs.

MALDIVIAN.AERO – Is the dominant domestic air carrier in Maldives, and provides a range of commercial and leisure air transport services.

Fair Use Regional ⁄Local

TEXAS.JOBS – Is operated through a joint effort between DE, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the National Labor Exchange to connect job seekers with approximately 96,000 job openings. An additional domain name operated by this joint effort was WORKINTEXAS-VETERANS.JOBS, a resource devoted to helping Texas veterans translate their military skills to jobs in the civil marketplace.

BOISE.COOP – Is operated by Boise Co-op, a member-owned co-operative founded in 1973 by a few dozen individuals who shared a mutual interest in buying healthy and organic food at reasonable prices.

BROOKLYN.COOP – Is operated by Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, which began as a modest storefront business in 2001, but is now New York City’s fastest growing credit union and a model for community development credit unions nationwide.

HYDERABAD.AERO – Is operated by the Hyderabad International Airport and provides a range of interactive services and information for both business and leisure travelers.

SACRAMENTO.AERO – Is a portal website operated by Sacramento County to provide links to each of the airports serving the Sacramento area: Sacramento International Airport (SMF), Mather Airport (MHR), Executive Airport (SAC), and Franklin Field (F72).

22.5 Protection of Regional and Local Geographic Names for Misleading Use

Although Self Storage LLC has stated its intention to consider using non-reserved geographic identifiers as part of a hierarchical and intuitive framework in a fair and non-misleading manner to help consumers navigate the .STORAGE namespace, Self Storage LLC is committed to operating the .STORAGE namespace in a manner that minimizes potential consumer confusion, and will actively work with others in the ICANN community regarding any future policy development in this area.

22.6 Potential Future Release of Initially Reserved Names

Self Storage LLC looks forward to collaborating with other new gTLD registry operators in potentially working with ICANN’s GAC to explore potential processes that could permit the release of initially reserved country names (including ISO-3166 two characters). Specifically, Self Storage LLC is interested in exploring other Registry Service Evaluation Processes (RSEP) that have been filed by existing gTLD registry operators in releasing previously reserved domain names.

22.7 Dispute Resolution

Self Storage LLC does not envision any potential disputes from governments or public authorities in connection with the registration and use of geographic names within the .STORAGE gTLD, based upon its proposed use set forth in Answer 18 above.

However, Self Storage LLC is committed to working with governments, public authorities, or IGOs that may have a concern regarding the registration of names with national or geographic significance at the second level within .STORAGE.

22.8 Creation and Updating the Policies

Self Storage LLC is also committed to continually reviewing and updating these lists to prevent the misleading use of geographical identifiers. Consistent with this commitment, Self Storage LLC intends to participate in any ongoing ICANN policy discussion regarding the protection of geographic names within the DNS. Should the need arise in the future for the creation or updating of the policies regarding this class of domain names, Self Storage LLC will act in a responsible manner.

Application file

1-1687-62688_STORAGE.html

新闻

IDN

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

Members only

Applicant

Xinhua News Agency Guangdong Branch 新华通讯社广东分社

No.158 Lianxin Road, Yuexiu District

Guangzhou City

Guangdong Province

China

Phone:

+86 20 83330567

Fax:

+86 20 83317977

http://www.gd.xinhua.org

Registry services

Other

Legal establishment

Corporation

Institutional Organization

China

Parent company:

Xinhua News Agency

IDN

xn--efvy88h

Meaning:

news

Language:

Chinese (zh)

Script:

Han (Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja) -- Hani

Phonetic spelling:

新闻 | Pinyin: xīn wén | Bopomofo: ㄒㄧㄣˉㄨㄣˊ | IPA: ⁄ ɕɨn wən ⁄

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

The .新闻TLD aims to become a platform for dispatching news and other forms of mass communications such as personal or business broadcasts on the Internet. The .新闻 TLD aspires to attract both traditional news establishments and non-traditional news establishments including brands and individuals to utilize the TLD to broadcast to the world their news.

Traditional and Non-traditional News Establishments

Newspapers and other print media were once the go to source for news. With the availability of the around the clock television and news channels along with the rise of the World Wide Web, print circulations, particularly that of news prints, have been on a steady decline since the late 1990. Today, it has become imperative for all news establishments to be online, including mobile or electronic reading device channels, to stay relevant in the current mass media landscape.

Ad revenues, life line of traditional print publications, are drying up fast and shifting to virtual platforms. According to TechCrunch, online ad spending is expected to soar to 36 billion in 2012, while offline spending continue to nosedive. (http:⁄⁄techcrunch.com⁄2011⁄06⁄08⁄online-ad-spending-31-billion⁄) In fact a number of recent publications started in the late 1990s and 2000s choose to stay online exclusively, such as the popular technology web publication Techcruch itself; the current affairs news site Huffington post; and UK’s first online only regional paper, the Southport Reporter. Even veteran publications like the US News & World Report and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer are abandoning print altogether.

Most important of all, many of the news establishments and agencies take pride in their work beyond “commercial” interests. Therefore a home on the Internet that is not labelled “.com” (commerce) would allow them to better express their identity. As a Chinese IDN TLD, “.新闻” aims to be the home for traditional as well as non-traditional news establishments not only in China but also the Chinese community around the world.

New Generation of News Consumers

ComScore reported that today’s younger news consumers are more likely to get their news online. Jack Flanagan, vice president of comScore notes “the Internet represents a significant opportunity to extend – and even improve upon – existing news brands and reach out to new consumers with living, breathing real-time content. Just because print circulations are declining does not mean there are fewer news consumers. In fact, just the opposite is true.” (http:⁄⁄www.comscore.com⁄Press_Events⁄Press_Releases⁄2008⁄03⁄Younger_News_Consumers_Less_Likely_to_Read_Print_Newspapers)

If printed news circulation ⁄ readership is down, and online news consumption is climbing, where are readers accessing their news today? According to comScore’s 2009 report, although readership for printed news publications is down 9% from the past year ( -9.7 million people), the number of visitors to the online newspaper category is up only 5% (+3.2 million people) during the same period. At first glance, the rise in online readership does not make up for the decline. However, what was also observed by comScore, was that the number of readers of news content online has increased by 8.6 million people. Together, these data indicate that while some print newspaper readers now choose to read newspapers online, more people are simply switching to reading news online at non-traditional news sites. (Reference: http:⁄⁄blog.comscore.com⁄2009⁄07⁄print_newspapers_decline.html)

The “.新闻” TLD believes in being the home and platform where news readers would turn to for traditional as well as non-traditional news.

Business and Personal Broadcasts

Brands may use “品牌.新闻”and “产品.新闻” to convey the company’s latest press release or product offerings, to upkeep investor relations or to launch market awareness campaigns. By doing so the brand will be able to better retain customers, obtain comments, feedback and suggestions, and improve customer relations through their own “.新闻” platform rather than depend on other proprietary platforms.

Individuals may find the .新闻 TLD attractive for communicating personal announcements such as prenuptials, baby announcements, personal achievements, new-found hobbies or advancing careers.

The vision of the .新闻 TLD is that through the development of an open generic IDN namespace supporting the delivery of current and relevant news events online locally, nationally, regionally and globally from media outlets as well as non-media establishments, it could become a nucleus for news and mass communication activities, and a driver of economic and social value for news establishments and news consumers around the world.

The mission and purposes of the .新闻 TLD are:

1. To develop a namespace dedicated to the broadcasting of news online, and a platform that is meaningful to the news profession as well as governments, businesses, consumers and pro-sumers of news;

2. To foster and encourage an online space for contemporary mass communications and dialogue for news distribution, aggregation, syndication as well as personal broadcasts and more;

3. To operate a secure, stable, trusted and socially responsible IDN gTLD with a reputation as a reliable online destination for news on the Internet; and,

4. To serve the media community, including the traditional news establishments, non-traditional news establishments as well as other entities and individuals to convey new information and ideas to the world.

Based on the generic nature of the .新闻 IDN TLD, the Registry aspires to become the IDN of choice for news establishments (i.e. 时代. 新闻), broadcasting groups (i.e. BBC.新聞), businesses and individuals developing websites delivering currently new events, public announcements or sharing personal news (i.e. 微软.新闻 & 甄子丹.新聞).

In addition, to its mission and vision, as a new gTLD, the Registry believes in its responsibility as a responsible industry participant to advance competition, enhance consumer trust and promote consumer choice with the development of the TLD:

A. Advance Constructive Competition

As a keyword, generic IDN gTLD, .新闻 aspires to be the domain of choice for mass media corporations, broadcasting groups, online news magazine, entertainment establishments, sports publications as well as brands and individuals.

While it is anticipated that a number of proposed new TLDs will enhance competition by targeting existing domain registrations and penetrating into the existing marketplace with aims to switch away from or add to their existing domains. The Registry will position itself not only as an alternative to existing TLDs such as “.com”, “.asia” or “.mo”, but as a premier domain exploring new adoption, promoting innovation and usage of domain names in the marketplace. For example, the Registry believes in the prevalence search engine optimization value of providing registrants a larger footprint on the Internet that is relevant to the target market they serve. As such, the Registry believes in exploring new market segments rather than replicating existing zones. Nevertheless, as a financially prudent approach, our financial projections and plans, are conservatively based on existing market indicators.

B. Enhance Consumer Trust

Based on expert studies, Internet users have more trust for domain names that exactly matches what they are looking for This improves the relevance of services and content produced under the TLD and serves to enhance consumer trust.

The value of the TLD name in itself is therefore a core part of the value and of building consumer trust. News establishments can utilize a .新闻 domain to deliver local, regional or global news, on domains such as “亚洲.新闻”; while businesses can establish their own dedicated domain for news and press releases or keep investors updated on domains such as “IBM.新聞” instead of long URLs such as: http:⁄⁄www.ibm.com⁄news

Geographic

Protections:

The Registry is committed to following the GAC advice and Specification 5 of the New gTLD Agreement in the protection of geographic names for registrations under the TLD.

More specifically, the Registry commits to:

a) Adopt, before the new gTLD is introduced, appropriate procedures for blocking, at no cost and upon demand of governments, public authorities or IGOs, names with national or geographic significance at the second level of the TLD.

b) Ensure procedures to allow governments, public authorities or IGOs to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance at the second level of the TLD

Building on the experience from .INFO and .ASIA in their handling of country and government related names, the Registry will develop and establish policies for:

1) obtaining and maintaining a list of names with national or geographic significance to be reserved (at no cost to governments) upon the demand of governments, public authorities or IGOs;

2) process for registrants to apply for and for the Registry to obtain consent from the respective government, public authorities or IGOs in the releasing of such reserved geographic names; and

The procedures may be similar to the management of governmental reserved names for .ASIA (Section 3.4 of http:⁄⁄dot.asia⁄policies⁄DotAsia-Reserved-Names--COMPLETE-2007-08-10.pdf -- also attached for reference). In summary:

I) The Registry will adhere to the New gTLD Registry Agreement Specification 5 requirements regarding 2. Two-Character Labels as well as 5. Country and Territory Names;

II) Before the launch of the TLD, the Registry will also proactively reach out to governments around the world, especially through GAC members (and ccTLD managers where appropriate), to solicit from them their demand for reserving any names with national or geographic significance at the second level of the TLD;

III) The Registry will develop mechanisms and maintain a list of governmental reference contacts, especially through correspondence with GAC members and ccTLD managers where appropriate. The corresponding reference contact(s) will be contacted in case a registration request is received for a governmental reserved name. If the consent from the governmental contact is received, the registration request will be approved. The domain will nevertheless remain in the reserved names list so that in case the registration lapses, the domain will not be released into the available pool, but will require the same approval process to be registered.

IV) The Registry will maintain an ongoing process for adding and updating governmental reserved names as they are demanded by governments, public authorities or IGOs.
In accordance with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, the registry operator must initially reserve all geographic names at the second level, and at all other levels within the TLD at which the registry operator provides for registrations.
In accordance with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, the registry operator will initially reserve all qualified geographic names at the second level, and at all other levels within the TLD at which the registry operator provides for registrations. The Registry will compile and establish a comprehensive master list of all qualified geographic names and place them into the Reserved Names list. Names on this reserved list will not be accepted for general registrations from the registry system.

The following explains the system behaviour for reserved names:
- regular domain create commands to reserved names will be rejected
- domain check commands will also return as unavailable for registration
- Whois queries for reserved names that are not activated will receive responses indicated that they are reserved
- Whois queries for reserved names that are activated will receive responses similar to other registered domains
- reserved names that are not activated will not appear in the DNS
- reserved names that are activated will be delegated in the DNS

Furthermore, the Registry will actively participate in the development of appropriate process and policies for governments, public authorities or IGOs to challenge abuses of names with national or geographic significance. As an important stakeholder in the Registry, DotAsia Organisation (through Namesphere) will be supporting the efforts as well. DotAsia has been a pioneer of protective measures for new gTLDs, especially in its handling of governmental reserved names and its engagement with different stakeholders to develop rapid suspension policies, which provided part of the genesis of what is now standardized for new gTLDs as the URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension) process. Similar administrative processes may be explored and developed for supporting challenge processes for abuses of names with national or geographic significance.

Application file

1-1309-40591_ .html

srl

Generic

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

1914

Members only

Applicant

Charleston Road Registry Inc.

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway

Mountain View

California

94043

United States

Phone:

+16502530000

Fax:

+1 650 253 0001

Registry services

Google

Legal establishment

Corporation

Delaware

United States

Parent company:

Google Inc.

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

18.a. Mission⁄Purpose of the Proposed gTLD

In line with Google’s general mission, Charleston Road Registry’s mission is to help make information universally accessible and useful by extending the utility of the DNS while enhancing the performance, security, and stability of the Internet for users worldwide. Charleston Road Registry aspires to create unique web spaces where users can learn about products, services, and information in a targeted manner and in ways never before seen on the Internet. Its business objective is to manage Google’s gTLD portfolio and Google’s registry operator business. As discussed further in the responses to questions 23 and 31, Charleston Road Registry intends to outsource all critical registry functions to Google Registry Services.

The purpose of the proposed gTLD is to provide an additional vertical branding opportunity for businesses in the marketplace through direct association with the gTLD, ʺ.srl.ʺ ʺSrlʺ is an acronym which roughly translates from Spanish, Italian and Romanian to English as ʺlimited liability corporation,ʺ a legally significant business designation. The mission of the proposed gTLD is to provide a dedicated domain space in which verified srls can enact unique, branded second-level domains. This mission will enhance customer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain. Charleston Road Registry believes the proposed gTLD will have significant value to organizations in countries which utilize the srl designation. In addition, this gTLD will increase competition in the marketplace by providing a viable alternative to .com.

The proposed gTLD will also provide Charleston Road Registry with the means to meet its business objectives.

Operational rules

Pricing:

18.c.ii
While Charleston Road Registry reserves the right to charge different prices for unique second-level domains within the gTLD, once Charleston Road Registry determines the price for a particular second-level domain, Charleston Road Registry will not price discriminate among ICANN-accredited registrars. Charleston Road Registry does not intend but reserves the right to offer introductory discounts and bulk registration discounts. Volume discounts, marketing support and incentive programs may be made available, and if so will be offered to all ICANN-accredited registrars without preference.

Application file

1-1681-77547_SRL.html

User login

Internet protocols

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