gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.chat	dot Chat Limited	famousfourmedia.com	View

Q18C
What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)? What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences⁄costs imposed upon consumers?

The Applicant fully appreciates the concerns of ICANN, the GAC and other consumer protection authorities about the need to operate new gTLDs in ways that minimize social costs, consumer vulnerabilities as well as other time and financial resource costs. To achieve these goals this gTLD will not only employ the ICANN mandated minimum protections, but will also deploy the following innovative protection measures that will put the gTLD at the forefront of addressing these critical issues:

1) Abuse Prevention and Mitigation Policies and Procedures

The Applicant’s core mission and purpose is to create an environment where individuals and companies can interact and express themselves in ways never before seen on the Internet, in a more targeted, secure and stable environment. To achieve this goal the Applicant will be implementing a range of Abuse Prevention and Mitigation (ʺAPMʺ) policies and procedures.

These Policies and Procedures will include: 1) gTLD APM Plan, 2) Policies and Procedures to Minimize Abusive Registrations ,3) Abuse Point of Contact, 4) Policies for Handling Complaints Regarding the Abuse Policies, 5) Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”), 6) Proposed Measures for Removal of Orphan Glue Records, 7) Resourcing plans for the initial implementation of, and ongoing maintenance of, the APM initiatives, 8) Registry semi-annual WHOIS verification, 9) Regular monitoring of WHOIS registration data for accuracy and completeness, 10) Registrar WHOIS self-certification, 11) WHOIS data reminder process, 12) Establishing policies and procedures to ensure Registrar compliance, which may include audits, financial incentives, penalties, or other means, 13) Registrar verification of WHOIS, 14) Abuse Response Process, 15) Policies and procedures that define malicious or abusive behaviour, 16) Service Level Requirements for resolution regarding APM issues, 17) Service Level Requirements for Law enforcement requests regarding APM issues, 18) Coordination of APM efforts with sector Groups and Law Enforcement, 19) Rapid takedown and suspension, 20) Controls to Ensure Proper Access to Domain Functions, 21) Enabling two-factor authentication from Registrants to process update, transfers, and deletion requests, 22) Enabling multiple, unique points of contact to request and⁄or approve update, transfer, and deletion requests, 23) Enabling the notification of multiple, unique points of contact when a domain has been updated, transferred, or deleted, 24) Additional Mechanism for Protection of Capital City Names, 25) Additional Mechanisms to Protect and Reserve IGO Names, 26) Governance Council Structure, 27) Efforts to increase Registrant Security Awareness, 28) Registrant Disqualification, 29) Restrictions on Proxy Registration Services, 30) Registry Lock. (Q28 for detail)

2) Rights Protection Mechanisms

The Applicant is firmly committed to the protection of Intellectual Property rights and to implementing all the mandatory Rights Protection Mechanisms (“RPMs”) contained in the Applicant Guidebook and detailed in Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement. Use of domain names that infringe upon the legal rights of others in the gTLD will not be tolerated and preventing abusive registrations is a core objective of the Applicant. The nature of such uses creates security and stability issues for the Registry, Registrars, and Registrants, as well as for users of the Internet in general. The Applicant will minimize time or financial resources costs by preventing abusive registrations and reduce opportunities for behaviours such as phishing or pharming. This will be achieved by implementing comprehensive registration, anti-abuse, and rights protection guidelines as defined in its AUP, as well as innovative additional RPMs such as the Mechanism to Protect IGO Names by blocking second level labels currently present in the .int zone file and the Mechanism for Further Protection of Capital City Names, as described below. In order to identify and address the abusive use of registered names on an ongoing basis, the Applicant will also incorporate and abide by the following RPMs and all other RPMs as specified in Specification 7 of the Registry Agreement and as adopted by the ICANN Board of Directors as ICANN Consensus Policies.

These Rights Protection Mechanisms will among other things include: 1) Trademark Clearinghouse, 2) Applicant’s Sunrise Period, 3) Trademark Claims Service , 4) Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, 5) Uniform Rapid Suspension System, 6) Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure, 7) Mechanism to protect IGO Names, 8) Mechanism for Further Protection of Capital City Names, 9) Efforts to promote WHOIS Accuracy, 10) Thick Searchable WHOIS, 11) Semi Annual Audits to Ensure Accurate WHOIS, 12) Policies Handling Complaints Regarding Abuse and Rights Issues, 13) Registry Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”), 14) Monitoring for Malicious Activity. (Q29 for detail)

3) Governance Council Structure

The Applicant believes that sector stakeholders should be afforded the opportunity to influence the manner in which the gTLD is governed. Accordingly, the Applicant will establish a Governance Council (the “GC”) comprised of key sector stakeholders that will serve as an advisory body tasked with defining best practice recommendations for the gTLD space. The Applicant believes that the success of the gTLD will be determined largely by the sector’s key stakeholders. Not only will these stakeholders have the primary interest in registering domains in the gTLD, but they will also be motivated to protect the sector from practices that would negatively impact the sector overall. The GC exists to provide guidance on matters related to best practices, intellectual property, authentication, certification, and other matters of importance to the sector and it will elect its own Board of Directors, which will be responsible for self-governance, the recommendation of sector-specific policies, and other best practices related to the gTLD.

4) BITS and Coalition for Online Accountability (“COA”) Recommendations

The Applicant will further structure its policies around the BITS and COA Recommendations where relevant to this gTLD. The Applicant’s goal is to provide a safe and secure experience for consumers. A domain within this gTLD that is owned, operated by or compromised by a malicious party could cause harm to consumers, to the gTLDʹs reputation and to the reputation of the Internet itself. As such, additional controls are in place relating to the validity of registrations, as well as measures to ensure the correct identity of both Registrants and Registrars relating to changes made within the SRS, and to protecting the integrity of the DNS service as a whole.

The Security Standards Working Group (SSWG) formed by BITS drafted a set of policy recommendations that should be applied to financial TLDs. The policy comprises of a set of 31 recommendations that should be adopted by ICANN in evaluating any applicant of a financial gTLD. The recommendations were posted by BITS in the form of a letter to ICANN at [http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄correspondence⁄aba-bits-to-beckstrom-crocker-20dec11-en.pdf].

The Coalition for Online Accountability have drafted a set of policy recommendations, also endorsed by many other international organizations representing the creative industries, that should be applied to entertainment gTLDs - especially those dependent on copyright protection. The policy comprises of a set of 7 recommendations that should be adopted by ICANN in evaluating any applicant for an entertainment-based gTLD. The recommendations were posted by COA in the form of a letter to ICANN at http:⁄⁄bit.ly⁄HuHtmq.

We welcome the recommendations from BITS and the COA and will strongly consider the recommendations relating to the implementation of this gTLD where considered relevant.

5) Registry Operators Startup Plan

The Applicant proposes to implement the following start-up plan so that the new gTLD is introduced in an orderly, transparent and stable manner. This will safeguard competition, fairness, trust and reliability for Registrants, the User Community, ICANN Accredited Registrars, and other Stakeholders.
The Applicant’s startup plan is designed to minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resources costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities) by instilling a number of RPMs as well as APMs.
The plan consists of the following multi-phase process that will be executed by the Registry Operator. The timeline for the gTLDs start-up process and associated RPMs in the Applicants gTLD is as follows:

Phase 1 – Sunrise Process:

- Day 1: Sunrise round opens
- Day 60: Sunrise round Closes
- Day 61: Sunrise Allocation Including contention resolution mechanisms opens
- Day 71: Sunrise Allocation contention resolution mechanisms closes

• The following Rights Protection Mechanisms apply:
a. Trademark Clearinghouse (“TMCH”)
b. Sunrise Eligibility Requirements (“SER”)
c. Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (“SDRP”)
d. Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP”)
e. Uniform Rapid Suspension System (ʺURSʺ)
f. Mechanism for the Protection of IGO Names (“PIN”)
g. Trademark Claims Service (“TCS”) *

Phase 2 – Landrush process:

- Day 72: Landrush opens
- Day 102: Landrush closes
- Day 103: Landrush contention resolution mechanisms opens
- Day 113: Landrush contention resolution mechanisms closes

- The following Rights Protection Mechanisms apply:

a. UDRP
b. URS
c. PIN
d. Mechanism for Further Protection of Capital City Names (“CCC”)
e. TCS *

Phase 3 – General Availability⁄Registrations:

- Day 114: General availability begins

- The following Rights Protection Mechanisms apply:

a. UDRP
b. URS
c. PIN
d. Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (“PDDRP”)
e. TCS for the 90 days after day 114 *

* To ease the concerns of trademark owners and mitigate the impact of infringing registrations, the Applicant will be implementing the TCS in all three phases of launch. It is important to note that during the General Availability Phase, the TCS will be used for 90 days, 30 days longer than the ICANN mandated minimum.

18(C)(i) How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first-serve basis?

Sunrise and Landrush periods:

During the gTLDs launch period, multiple applications for a particular domain name will be resolved through a Contention Resolution Mechanism (“CRM”) involving auctions. These CRMs will apply to the Sunrise and Landrush application phases. The CRMs will be conducted by Sedo GMBH, an experienced provider of domain auction services. The mechanisms offered will involve closed auctions where only specific bidders can participate.

During the Applicants Sunrise process, if there are two or more eligible applicants for one domain name string, then the contention will be resolved by auction. Auctions held during the Sunrise phase (“Sunrise Auctions”) will be closed and the only bidders will be eligible applicants according to the gTLDs Sunrise eligibility requirements including the TMCH.

During the Applicants Landrush process, if there are two or more eligible applicants for one domain name string, then the contention will be resolved by auction. Auctions held during the Landrush phase (“Landrush Auctions”) will be closed and the only bidders will be eligible applicants according to the gTLDs Landrush eligibility requirements.

General Availability:

After the two initial startup phases of the Registry the allocation of domain names will occur on a first-come first-serve basis, taking into account the registries APM and RPM mechanisms.

18(c)(ii) Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

Incentive, Marketing and Outreach Programs

The Applicant will implement a number of incentive, marketing assistance, awareness and PR programs to assist the Registrar channel in providing a sector leading experience to end-users and to provide cost benefits for registrants. The Applicant will work with the global Registrar channel to ensure that the new gTLD offer is clearly visible on registrar sites resulting in an increase in the awareness and in the number of new gTLD registrations. Achieving this visibility requires (1) a clear business case and incentives for registrars to motivate them and (2) mechanisms and assets to make it easy for them to do so.

The Applicant will at the time of launch depending upon market conditions consider incentive programs that will deliver cost benefits to registrants through either the use of advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts or other similar methods. The Applicant is aware of Specification 9 – Registry Operator Code of Conduct, and will not directly or indirectly show any preference or provide any special consideration to any Registrar in its marketing efforts.

Example incentive mechanisms the Applicant will provide to the registrars may include:

Marketing Incentives

The Applicant intends to provide expertise, tools and creative assets to the registrars as part of general marketing and co-marketing programs. There is a significant cost saving if the expertise, tools and assets are developed centrally and the costs amortized across the registrar base. Significant cost savings can occur relating to Market Research, Social Customer Relationship Management (“SCRM”), Content Management Systems (“CMS”), Direct Marketing Tools, Marketing Collateral and Analytics Solutions.

The Applicant will employ some or all of the following marketing techniques jointly with registrars globally: (1) Direct Response Print, (2) General Web Marketing, (3) Email campaigns without Incentive, (4) Email with Incentive, (5) Email Marketing - Prospect List, (6) Email Marketing - Sponsored Newsletter, (7) Direct Marketing with Incentive, (8) Web Marketing with Incentive, (9) Viral Marketing (Social, Video, Micro-sites), (10) Develop User Interface Improvement best practices, (11) Develop Search Engine Optimization best practices, (12) Email Marketing - Registrar List
As an example of a marketing initiative, the Applicant will forward leads to the Registrars “buy” pages as an incentive via the means of Pay-Per-Click (“PPC”) search marketing. The Applicant will run multiple PPC campaigns targeting gTLD Registrants and point these to landing pages on the Registrar’s websites. Conversions are directly trackable from all PPC campaigns and keywords with a high Click-Through-Rate (“CTR”) or conversions will also be leveraged for SEO best practice purposes.

PR and Awareness Incentives:

In addition to the core outreach to the Registrar Channel, the Applicant will engage in a wider outreach to build awareness of the new gTLD with customers, end-users and other stakeholders. The Applicant will engage with a number of high profile individuals associated with the gTLD and will seek to reach end consumers through webcasts, podcasts, traditional broadcast TV as well as radio.

Provision of customer retention toolkits to Registrars:

The Applicant will use propensity modelling to build retention marketing programs to minimize churn whilst building renewal sustainability. The Applicant will develop econometric models designed to measure the likelihood of a customer segment to purchase a product or offer bundle, at a certain point in the relationship lifecycle. They are used to predict the best time, and the best combination of products, to offer to customers who match a certain profile. They are especially effective where there are large numbers of customers and reliable data can be gathered. The Applicant expects that registration volume in the gTLD will provide sufficient data for this modelling.

Measure, benchmark and improve the customer experience:

The Applicant will engage in a program to develop best practice policies related to the customer experience at differing levels of the channel. This will include the entire ecosystem from Registry through Registrar to Resellers and finally end-users. One key metric might be, for example, to reduce the number of clicks to make a purchase equivalent to the most customer friendly e-commerce sites in the world.
The Applicant might, for example, provide website performance tracking tools to registrars, which would benchmark current performance and provide insights into customers’ needs and behaviour at the point of purchase.
The Applicant will engage in a Social Customer Relationship Management Program to monitor social media feedback to questions, concerns or other issues. The Applicant will further seek to measure marketing communication expenditure and activity.

Other initiatives that will be considered by the Applicant in its outreach efforts:

(a) Customized Vertical Search App for major mobile platforms.
(b) Designated Twitter channel for the stakeholder community.
(c) Social Media outreach through Facebook and other social media solutions.

Translation into other languages:

At present, the Applicant plans to translate marketing collateral and other content that it considers to have geographically diverse appeal in to the 6 official UN languages, namely Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian and Spanish.

18(c)(iii) Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.

The Applicant will follow the lifecycle and business rules found in the majority of gTLDs today. Our back-end operator has in excess of ten years of experience managing numerous gTLDs that utilize standard and unique business rules and lifecycles.

Initial registrations of registered names may be made in the registry in one (1) year increments for up to a maximum of ten (10) years. For the avoidance of doubt, the registration term for registered names may not exceed ten (10) years. Further the renewal of registered names may be made in one (1) year increments for up to a maximum of ten (10) years. For the avoidance of doubt, renewal of registered names may not extend their registration period beyond ten (10) years from the time of the renewal.

The Applicant plans to review domain name registration rates on an annual basis and will make a determination at that time regarding adjustments, depending upon market factors. Thus, at this time, the Applicant does not plan to make specific guarantees regarding pricing increases.

The Applicant will provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the gTLD advance written notice of any price increase (including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs which had the effect of reducing the price charged to registrars, unless such refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs are of a limited duration that is clearly and conspicuously disclosed to the registrar when offered) that complies with the requirements as outlined in the New gTLD Registry Agreement.
-end-

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.Golf	Dot-Golf LLC	tldassets.com	View

Dot-Golf LLC
Question 18C

Dot-Golf LLC intends to operate the .Golf top-level domain under a coherent, transparent and sustainable process to minimize social costs and maximize value for registrants and Internet users. The registry will correspond and comply with ICANN to incorporate the best practices and policies available. We will also coordinate with appropriate golf bodies and organizations to ensure and maintain the integrity and spirit of the game of golf. Wherever possible, we will contribute our thoughts, ideas and initiatives in a constructive manner to improve these processes.

ICANN has indicated over time a series of consensus policies for new gTLD applicants to incorporate into their registration policies. It is our intention to monitor and comply with policies set by ICANN, and to contribute to the formation of a fair, professional and transparent process through the New gTLD program.

We will also remain open and responsive to prospective registrants and intend to develop initiatives to encourage participation at the appropriate stages. In this regard, our applications have already been compiled or reviewed to varying extents by Loeb and Loeb LLP, attorneys at law, Edward White & Co., LLP, certified public accountants, our registry services provider Afilias and TLD Assets LLC. A number of other former ICANN staff, registries and registrars, companies and consultants in a number of fields have also informally contributed to our understanding of the New gTLD Program and the appropriate policies. Please review below a compilation of policies intended to address the issues referred to in this question.

It is also our understanding that many of these policies are subject to modifications, particularly as a result of issues that may be generated from the new gTLD application process in 2012. As a potential registry operator, we have reviewed the current public information and taken numerous professional consultations.

With respect to the game of golf, Dot-Golf LLC has taken numerous consultations and engaged in discussions with prominent golfing organizations.

The amateur game is governed by the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews (R&A) and the United States Golf Association (USGA). The professional game is governed by PGA Tours around the world, and most golfers recognize the U.S. PGA Tour and the European Tour as the most prominent. After a number of discussions with the parties above, Dot-Golf LLC was advised that the International Golf Federation (IGF), based in Switzerland, had been appointed to evaluate the opportunity of the .Golf TLD. While the IGF and supporting entities are not formally supporting any applicants at this time, The IGF and its leadership has informally expressed an interest in working with Dot-Golf LLC should it be successful in contracting for .Golf.

Below is a preliminary description of policies for Dot-Golf LLC, which may be applied to issues of social cost and consumer vulnerabilities. Dot-Golf LLC plans to take additional consultations and interact with the appropriate governing bodies or service providers as necessary to update registration policies in relation to any potential changes by ICANN.

Trademarks & Dispute Resolution

The launch of .Golf will include the operation of a trademark claims service according to the defined ICANN processes for checking a registration request and alerting trademark holders of potential rights infringement.

Dot-Golf LLC will make a formal announcement to notify the public of an upcoming Sunrise period at least 30 days prior to the opening of Sunrise. Exact dates and parameters will be released prior to the beginning of Sunrise. Dot-Golf LLC intends to work the Trademark Clearinghouse to check and verify registered marks. Dot-Golf LLC also intends to fully comply with Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Policy (PDDRP), any other rights protection mechanisms (RPMs) and WHOIS requirements throughout the Sunrise and Landrush periods, and after standard registrations begin. Further detail and descriptions of RPMs are given in our response to Question 29.

Sunrise will consist of a period of at least 30 days. Trademark and service mark holders will be able to reserve marks that are an identical match in the .Golf domain. Recurring annual fees will be standardized in accordance with fees set at preregistration levels. Those wishing to reserve marks in the .Golf domain during the Sunrise Period must own a current trademark or service mark listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse.
Notice will be provided to all trademark holders in the Clearinghouse if someone is seeking a Sunrise registration. This notice will be provided to holders of marks in the Clearinghouse that are an Identical Match (as defined in the Trademark Clearinghouse) to the name to be registered during Sunrise.

Each Sunrise registration will require a minimum term of five years.

Dot-Golf LLC will establish the following Sunrise eligibility requirements (SERs) as minimum requirements, verified by Clearinghouse data, and incorporate a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP). The SERs include: (i) ownership of a mark that satisfies the criteria set forth in section 7.2 of the Trademark Clearinghouse specifications, (ii) description of international class of goods or services covered by registration; (iii) representation that all provided information is true and correct; and (iv) provision of data sufficient to document rights in the trademark.

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

A Landrush period will be held following the Sunrise period. The Landrush period will last at least 30 days. Registration will be open to the general public. However, Dot-Golf LLC will make efforts to publicize the Landrush period, particularly to the golf industry and community. Landrush will not consist of on a first-come, first-serve basis, and is created primarily to allow the golf industry and community adequate time to apply for a domain. On a case-by-case basis, multiple applications for the same domain name may be subject to dispute resolution mechanisms or an auction. The Landrush period may be extended beyond 30 days. Terms and conditions will be set by Dot-Golf LLC prior to the launch of Landrush.

Abusive conduct will not be tolerated during preregistration or at any time, and an abuse point of contact will be maintained at all times.

After the completion of Sunrise and Landrush periods, standard registrations will begin, and domains will be awarded to registrants on a first-come first-serve basis.

Abusive Conduct & Terms of Use

An anti-abuse policy will be enacted and publicly released prior to sunrise and launch of the .Golf TLD.

Dot-Golf LLC will reserve the right to disqualify registrants or their agents from making or maintaining any registrations or reservations in the .Golf TLD if these registrants are found to have repeatedly engaged in abusive registrations, in its sole discretion.

Abusive use(s) of the .Golf domain should not be tolerated.
The nature of such abuses creates security and stability issues for the registry, registrars and registrants, as well as for users of the Internet in general. Dot-Golf LLC defines abusive use as the wrong or excessive use of power, position or ability, and includes, without limitation, the following:
- Illegal or Fraudulent Actions;
- Spam: The use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages. The term applies to e-mail spam and similar abuses such as instant messaging spam, mobile messaging spam, and the spamming of Web sites and Internet forums. An example, for purposes of illustration, would be the use of email in denial-of-service attacks;

- Phishing: The use of counterfeit Web pages that are designed to trick recipients into divulging sensitive data such as usernames, passwords, or financial data;

- Pharming: The redirecting of unknowing users to fraudulent sites or services, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning;

- Willful distribution of malware: The dissemination of software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the ownerʹs informed consent. Examples include, without limitation, computer viruses, worms, keyloggers, and trojan horses;

- Fast flux hosting: Use of fast-flux techniques to disguise the location of Web sites or other Internet services, or to avoid detection and mitigation efforts, or to host illegal activities. Fast-flux techniques use DNS to frequently change the location on the Internet to which the domain name of an Internet host or name server resolves. Fast flux hosting may be used only with prior permission of Dot-Golf LLC;

- Botnet command and control: Services run on a domain name that are used to control a collection of compromised computers or ʺzombies,ʺ or to direct denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks);

- Distribution of child pornography; and

- Illegal Access to Other Computers or Networks: Illegally accessing computers, accounts, or networks belonging to another party, or attempting to penetrate security measures of another individualʹs system (often known as ʺhackingʺ). Also, any activity that might be used as a precursor to an attempted system penetration (e.g., port scan, stealth scan, or other information gathering activity).

Pursuant to Section 3.6.5 of the RRA, Dot-Golf LLC reserves the right to deny, cancel or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain name(s) on registry lock, hold or similar status, that it deems necessary, in its discretion; (1) to protect the integrity and stability of the registry; (2) to comply with any applicable laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement, or any dispute resolution process; (3) to avoid any liability, civil or criminal, on the part of Dot-Golf LLC, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, and employees; (4) per the terms of the registration agreement or (5) to correct mistakes made by Dot-Golf LLC or any Registrar in connection with a domain name registration. Dot-Golf LLC also reserves the right to place upon registry lock, hold or similar status a domain name during resolution of a dispute. Abusive uses, as defined above, undertaken with respect to .Golf domain names shall give rise to the right of Dot-Golf LLC to take such actions under Section 3.6.5 of the RRA in its sole discretion.
Dot-Golf LLC will maintain an Abuse Contact at all times from the opening of sunrise and continuing into the standard registration period.

Reserved Names

Dot-Golf LLC will also maintain a reserved list. Some of these names will be reserved for regulatory or informational purposes. ICANN has already determined several of these on behalf of registry operators. Examples can be found in Specification 5 of the sample New gTLD Registry Agreement provided by ICANN in the Applicant Guidebook. Dot-Golf LLC intends to fully comply with this list and any additions that may be made in the future.

Dot-Golf LLC will continue to take consultations in an effort to maintain this list and the .Golf domain in a sensitive and respectful manner to the global golfing community. Dot-Golf LLC will reserve the right to disqualify registrants or their agents from making or maintaining any registrations or reservations in the .Golf TLD if these registrants are found to have repeatedly engaged in abusive registrations, in its sole discretion.

Some premium names will also be put on a reserved list and will be reserved for auction. Some premium names may be awarded to individuals or companies through a transparent process in the interest of developing key services or initiatives under the .Golf domain. For example, Dot-Golf LLC may host a “Founders Program,” whereby people may apply for a premium name and demonstrate a valuable use. This will be done within reason and on a limited basis.

Dot-Golf LLC will not intentionally attempt to put trademarked names on the premium section of the reserved list, and will cooperate with any appropriate rights protection mechanisms. Premium domains will be established prior to launch.

Trademark “frontrunning,” the process of registering trademarks for valuable domain names that have not been released to the general public for the sole purpose of securing the domain at a lower price, is deemed to be abusive to the registry and will not be recognized.

Finally, certain geographic names will be reserved and handled in accordance with procedures delegated by ICANN. For more detail on this section, please refer to Question 22.

Pricing Controls

Dot-Golf LLC fully intends to comply with the consensus policies outlined in sections 2.9 and 2.10, Article 2, of the sample New gTLD Registry Agreement provided in the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook, and to adapt to any changes made by ICANN in the future.

Summarizing these policies, Dot-Golf LLC intends to sell domains only through accredited ICANN registrars, to give clear and advance notices of prices or changes to prices for both initial sales and the renewal of domain registrations, to allow registrars and customers to purchase names for a period of 1-10 years and to comply with any further pricing control requirements that may be currently listed or later delegated by ICANN.