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

Prototypical answer:

i.

* SPECIALITY: An own namespace for the GmbH Community *

The speciality of the .GMBH top-level domain is, that it aims to become a new namespace exclusively dedicated for the communication and interaction of GmbH companies (the Community) among each other, with customers and Internet users in general.


* SERVICE LEVEL: A Quality Seal *

The Registry will offer a voluntary quality seal by which the Registrant may show to the public that he operates a trusted website and that he has been validated.


* REPUTATION: Secure and trustworthy Namespace *

The .GMBH namespace managed under the legislation of Germany and technically operated by
TLD-Box, an affiliate of the operator of the Austrian ccTLD .at, brings with it security, reliability, trust and credibility in an even higher level than already established by the national ccTLDs. The registration policies and the start-up planning ensure that only Community members may register a .GMBH domain name. Internet users can trust the ownership data 100% since all Registrants and domain names will be validated. This is a service level that is sought after by the global Internet community and which will contribute to the already positive reputation of the .GmbH namespace.


ii.

* COMPETITION – New choice in overcrowded namespaces *

When starting a new business in Germany with the legal form of a GmbH 67% of the companies do not get the desired domain name corresponding to their company names and need to choose a second- or third-best choice domain name according to a study we conducted in 2008. Many of the remaining 33% of companies choose a company name in dependence of the availability of a domain name or else need to buy the desired domain name on the domain aftermarket.

This is due to the overcrowded namespaces in .de (app. 15 mio domain names), .at (app.
1,1 mio), .ch (app. 1,8 mio) and also in the gTLD namespaces like .com or .org. And the situation is even getting worse over time, with a growing number of GmbHs, Internet users and domain names.

Not getting a good domain name which equates the company name means a competitive disadvantage for a new company right from the start, sometimes a severe one.
The .GmbH top-level domain name promises relief from this situation by offering a new namespace where short, descriptive, memorable, intuitive and suitable new domain names for GmbH companies will become available again.

Even if the price for a .GmbH domain name will be higher than a .de or .com one, the competitive advantages a company may gain from a suitable domain name will outpace a higher price by far. For more than 1.4 mio. GmbH existing companies .GmbH domain names will be an ideal supplement to their gTLDs and ccTLDs portfolio. Imagine that it might be much easier for a company to communicate ABC GmbH instead of ABC Service GmbH as a company name if they register abc.gmbh.


* DIFFERENTIATION – A speaking TLD with validated Registrants *

The .GMBH top-level domain and its .GMBH domain names are clearly differentiated to existing TLDs due to their descriptive and speaking nature which has a clear meaning and value to the targeted Registrants and Internet users: This is a GmbH company’s domain name.

By validation of each single Registrant upon registration of a .GmbH domain name and an annual revalidation, the .GMBH namespace will offer security, reliability, trust and credibility in an even higher level than already established by the national ccTLDs. Internet users can trust the ownership data 100% since all Registrants are validated. This is not the case with the national ccTLDs and definitely not the case with gTLDs, where apart from the missing validation, proxy and⁄or privacy services complicates to identify the registrant.

Aim of the Registry is to reach 100% Whois accuracy.


* INNOVATION – The Domain Name Quality Seal (DNQS)*

After registration of a .GmbH domain name the Registry will offer to the Registrant a quality seal which the Registrant may place at its website to show that he is a validated domain name owner. The quality seal will have a displayed lifetime of one (1)
year and will be re-issued after revalidation of the Registrants eligibility. This is an absolute novelty in the domain name business. We are further planning to support the
GmbH Community Members by innovative services such as making websites more easy accessible for mobile devices, offering directory services and search engine optimization. The new .GMBH domain names will be suitable for search engines and other forms of communication.


iii.

Internet users in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland will intuitively understand that domain names ending on .GMBH and the information and services found on such domain names are offered by GmbH companies. The intuitive and descriptive domain names under a “speaking TLD” like .GMBH will enable consumers to navigate and search
more easily for information and services from GmbH companies on the Internet. It is also expected that search engines will give ranking preference to .GMBH domain names compared to other TLDs, if the .GMBH namespace is managed well and offers advantages over other TLDs. This will increase the visibility along with the strong marketing efforts for



.GMBH. But still the strongest argument is that the validated domain names will lead to greater trust in information and services offered by GmbH Companies.


iv.

.GMBH second-level domain names are restricted to the GmbH Community Members and regulatory authorities (Registrants). The Registry intends to offer the registration of domain names under .GMBH according to the following policies.


* START-UP and ALLOCATION SCHEDULE *

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

Phase 1 - RESERVATION
- Reservation of names for the regulatory authorities, courts and institutions and their services to the GmbH Community Members such as a company register or legislative information.
- Reservation of names for defined interest groups of the GmbH Community including names for associations and chambers representing GmbH companies and their interests.
- Reservation of names for the technical operation, the namespace management, marketing and purpose of the .GMBH top-level domain as defined in #18a.
- Reservation of names in accordance with the ICANN specification 5 (2-characters, country names, others)

Phase 2 – SUNRISE
Sunrise according to the Trademark Clearinghouse rules. Eligible are all registrants who meet the eligibility criteria of .GMBH described below and whose trademarks were validated by the Trademark Clearinghouse. The TMCH Sunrise has a duration of 30 days; allocation follows the first-come, first-served principle.

Phase 3 – LANDRUSH
Registration of domains names that are corresponding with the name of registered GmbH company names by GmbH companies. Allocation follows the first-come, first-served principle.


*** .GmbH Registration Policy Description ***

The following text is a shortened and descriptive version of the full registration policy text which highlights the relevant information.

1 Structure of the namespace
This section will describe the structure of the namespace.
The namespace under .GMBH is not divided into second-level domain names.

2 Registrable characters
This section will describe the registrable characters
A .GMBH domain name can only consist of digits (0-9), hyphens, the letters a through z, the Latin Unicode character sets (Basic, Extended-A and Extended-B).

3 Priority Principle
This section will describe the priority principle
If no special allocation method is provided for a domain name, it is assigned categorically to this eligible Registrant whose application has been first received by the Registry in the technically correct manner and in accordance with the registration policy and has been first written in the Registry database (also called priority principle, ʺfirst come, first servedʺ).


4 Eligibility Requirements – General
This section will describe the general eligibility requirements for registering a .GmbH
domain name.

With the registration of a .GMBH domain name each Registrant implicitly signs the registration requirements and agrees with the fact that he acknowledges compliance with the registration requirements.

5 Eligibility Requirements – Registrant
This section will describe the eligibility requirements applicable to the registrant. The .GMBH top-level domain is intended to serve the GmbH Community. To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the top-level domain and to meet a sufficient reference to the legal form GmbH, the group of Registrants is limited.

6 Eligibility Requirements - Content and Use
This section will describe the eligibility requirements applicable to content and use. To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the of the top- level domain, the Registrant must satisfy criteria for the content and the use of .GMBH domain names.

7 Eligibility Requirements - Domain Name Selection
This section will describe the eligibility requirements applicable to the domain name selection.
To meet the requirements of ICANN to a community-based designation of the top-level domain, the Registrant must satisfy the criteria for the domain name selection of .GMBH domain names.

8 Registration Agreement
This section will describe the registration agreement
The contract for the registration of the domain is entered into between the Registrant and a Registrar accredited by ICANN.

9 Registration
This section will describe the registration procedure.
The domain name registration of a Registrant is electronically sent by the Registrar to the registration system of the Registry using the EPP protocol.

10 Transfer of Domain Names
This section will describe the transfer of domain names
Domain names can be transferred only to applicants who are eligible to register .GMBH
domain names and fulfill all eligibility requirements.

11 Whois
This section will describe the Whois requirements.
The administrative contact of a .GMBH domain shown in the Whois database (Admin Contact) has to be a natural person who as an agent for the domain owner (Registrant Contact) has the right and obligation to make binding decisions on all matters concerning the domain.

12 Phased Registration
This section will describe the registration schedule.
The holders of prior rights enjoying protection are eligible to register domain names during the phased registration first phase, the ʺTrademark Clearinghouseʺ Sunrise period, before the free registration (Landrush) for the top-level domain .GMBH begins.

13 Enforcement, Termination and Deletion
This section will describe the enforcement, termination and deletion procedures.

The Registry is entitled to lock, cancel, initiate the gTLD-deletion cycle or transfer domain names that do not meet the registration criteria if …

14 Dispute Procedures
This section will describe the dispute procedures.
To prevent bad faith registration and use of domain names under the top-level domain
.GMBH, every domain name Registrant has to subject to the dispute resolution procedure proposed by ICANN or the Registry (UDRP, URS, PDDRP and the Eligibility Requirements Dispute Resolution Policy (ERDRP)).

15 Validation
This section will describe the validation of .GmbH domain names.
It is the role of the Registry to assure and control the compliance with the eligibility requirements for any domain name to guarantee the Community aspect and integrity of the
.GMBH namespace and to avoid disputes.


v.

The use of proxy and privacy services to protect the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users will be not allowed. The reasons are that legal entities such as a GmbH cannot demand privacy under the Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland legislation and that proxy and privacy services would not allow a proper validation and
a public visibility of accurate Whois data in line with the eligibility criteria.


vi.

The applicant has already conducted manifold outreach regarding the benefit of the upcoming new GmbH namespace including

- speeches at public target group events, such as from the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, investment forums and at other occasions,
- publications together with industry associations and chambers about .GmbH,
- presentation of .GmbH in constituencies of industry associations and chambers,
- presentation of .GmbH in front of politicians,
- publically on its intuitively accessible website www.dotgmbh.de and at ICANN meetings,
- by press releases.

In preparation of the forthcoming launch and beyond the Registry will use its network of national associations, multipliers, media and advertising partners to promote .GMBH in order to reach the projected domain name registrations and to transport the benefits of
.GMBH to the farest corner of the Community.

For the .GMBH top-level domain, the Registry will cooperate closely with the media departments of chambers and associations, as well as with a number of publishing and broadcast partners from the Community, in order to plan and implement a comprehensive communication strategy with the aim to gain awareness within the GmbH Community. We will continue to communicate the benefits of .GMBH domains names within the community. We are confident that our broad outreach program, which is part of our marketing efforts, will help us to achieve the projected benefits of .GMBH.

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