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

Prototypical answer:

i. Applicant was founded with a pioneering vision: to help entrepreneurial financial advisors establish successful businesses through which they may offer independent financial guidance and advice. Through our vision and dedication, Applicant has become a strong and reputable brand within the financial sector. We believe that the establishment of our gTLD will only serve to enhance this brand recognition in our industry and among our end clients.

In the past, Applicant has been the victim of internet fraud and misrepresentation that, if not properly managed, may have had an impact on our reputation. Applicant has always been proactive in combatting these abuses in order to ensure that our reputation does not suffer. We have invested resources and taken measures to protect against these vulnerabilities. Applicant believes that establishing a secure internet environment through a gTLD will not only add value to our brand, but will also create a safe haven for our company, our financial advisors, and our end-clients.

ii. This gTLD will give us an edge on our competition. It will set us apart as a “first mover” in our industry, as we believe we will be among the first companies to have acquired its own gTLD. This fact will convey a positive message to our customers and position us as an innovator in the marketing space.

The .lplfinancial TLD will also allow us to provide our financial advisor partners with their own domain name, branded with our strong corporate identity. Through this gTLD we believe the trust that financial advisors place in the LPL Financial brand will be shared with our end clients. This gTLD will help our end clients understand that while our financial advisors are independent, they are strongly supported by the LPL Financial brand.

Moreover, as we have described above, the financial industry sector is very often the victim of internet security breaches, and we therefore expect to use the gTLD as an opportunity to provide a secure internet environment not only for Applicant as a firm, but also for our financial advisors in their ordinary business practices.

iii. The .lplfinancial TLD will guarantee authenticity and security. This is a very important consideration for firms within the financial services sector, because internet users, our financial advisors, and our end clients are often targets of the malicious conduct by third parties who misuse domain names in order to obtain personal and sensitive information. Through our gTLD, we believe our end-clients will gain certainty and comfort that they are obtaining secure and accurate information from their LPL Financial advisor.

Applicant will at all times implement and adhere to any and all consensus policies introduced by ICANN, so as to further the development and stability of the internet and the global Internet community. Applicant will also create a governance committee that will consists of legal, technical, commercial and business advisors to review and propose policies and ensure that all polices are adhered to.

A brief description of our registration polices is summarized below:

• Prior to issuing .lplfinancial domain names, Applicant intends to reserve a number of generic words, phrases, character and⁄or digits as second-level domain and third level that relate specifically to the activities of Applicant. These domain names will be allocated in accordance to the requirements as set out by Applicant. The purpose of these domains is to ensure the continuous operations of Applicant.

• In addition, Applicant also intends to block words and phrases which it, in its sole and exclusive discretion, considers to be abusive, obscene and⁄or offensive, thereby preventing any reputational loss to our brand or any user confusion. These domains will come up as unavailable.

• Similarly, Applicant intends to reserve all two character labels and all country and territory names, taking into account the relevant provisions laid down in Specification 5 of the Registry Operator Agreement. More information in this respect will be provided in our answer to Question 22.

Restricted registration

In order to comply with the above strategy, Applicant will, at least initially, restrict the gTLD for corporate use only by Applicant. Going forward, it will allow its financial advisors to apply for a domain name within the .lplfinancial TLD. Furthermore, Applciant plans to include specific provisions in its registry-registrar agreement in order to ensure that Applicant’s mission and vision outlined above are implemented to their fullest extent possible. By doing so, Applicant will ensure that the restricted policies described above and below are adhered to, allowing for a smoother implementation of the issuance of the domain names.

All domain name applications will be presented to Applicantʹs marketing department through a centralized, web-based, request system. The marketing department will determine whether or not the request is approved. Once a particular domain name is approved, the marketing department will request the domain name registration through one or two third party registrars. All domain names under the .lplfinancial gTLD must be linked in a direct way to (i) the services offered under the LPL Financial brand or (ii) services, products, trademarks, or company names registered in name of the our financial advisors, our product sponsors, or our affiliates. In addition all information provided under these domain names will be reviewed through an advertising compliance process led by our marketing department to ensure compliance with our regulatory requirements.

Applicant intends to launch its gTLD in several phases:

Phase One: Allocation of domain names that are linked to services specific to LPL Financial as well as the allocation of domain names that are currently being held directly by Applicant. This phase will last at least for a period of one year. The length of this period will allow us to ensure a smooth transition phase and will provide internal and external users with the opportunity to be familiarized with the transition.

Phase Two: In accordance to ICANN’s policies, Applicant will implement a sunrise period for 30 days, enabling its financial advisors to register their corresponding trademarks within .lplfinancial gTLD, as discussed in our response to question 29.

Phase Three: This phase will not be open to the general public but as provided above will only be open up to financial advisors, product sponsors, or affiliates of the Applicant that are eligible to register domain names within the .lplfinancial gTLD. All domain names will be submitted through a request process prior to registration in order to ensure that i) the domain name applied for corresponds with a trademark, company name, or service and products that are provided by our financial advisors and ii) the domain name complies with the abuse registration polices as set out by our governance committee (see response to question 28 and 29).

During this phase Applicant plans to adhere to the trademark claim services as set out by ICANN for a period of 60 days from the start of the phase. This allows trademark holders that are connected to the trademark clearinghouse to be informed if any of the domain names being applied for infringe their trademark.

iv. The only personal information the will be collected is that which is required to comply with ICANN’s WHOIS standards. In the event that we obtain any other personal information, Applicant shall comply with the applicable U.S. privacy laws and regulations. The registry operator that will ensure compliance with all data privacy laws. In the event that other personal information is collected by the registrants, we will require that all registrants and the applicable registrars adhere to applicable U.S. privacy laws and regulations.

v. Our goal is to achieve greater brand recognition and to increase the recognition of our financial advisors’ services through this gTLD application. In order to reap the benefits from this gTLD, we will plan an appropriate communication to the relevant audience at the time of our application.

In order to create awareness about the .lplfinancial TLD, we will make the most of our existing advertising channels. This includes, among others, social media dialoguing, advertising campaigns, interviews, and internal leadership announcements.

Similar gTLD applications: (1)