29 Rights Protection Mechanisms

Prototypical answer:

1.Overview



As a well-known brand owner, the Applicant is very conscience about trademark protection. Therefore, Applicant understands ICANN’s concerns in relation to trademark protection and abuse on the Internet in general, and in the Domain Name System in particular, Not only do trademark owners need to be protected but Internet users also need to be protected from malicious conduct. Consequently, the Applicant, after being delegated the TLD, will ensure that the .lplfinanical TLD is a safe and secure name space for all Internet users by not only complying with Specification 7 of ICANN’s Agreement, but also by presenting a domain name registration policy that implements restrictions with respect to who can register domain names in this TLD. The Applicant will also be implementing takedown procedures as described below.

2. Prevent Abusive Registrations

In principle, the .lplfinancial TLD will be a closed TLD and all domain name requests will go to the marketing department through a process that will be governed and overseen by a Governance Committee composed of employees who have a technical, legal and⁄or business background. The Governance Committee will ensure that the policies related to the TLD are observed. Because the .lplfinancial will be a closed TLD, the domain name registration policy will contain clear restrictions. First, at least initially, only the Applicant will be entitled to register domain names in the .lplfinancial TLD. Second, only Applicant’s financial advisors and product sponsors and affiliates will be able to register domain names that are directly or indirectly linked to their services and products including tag lines, slogans, etc. Furthermore, in addition to the Domain Name Abuse Policy (see response to question 28) we intend to protect third party rights and comply with ICANN’s requirements such as Sunrise, IP claims, URS, UDRP, PDDRP as specified in Specification 7.

As already stated, the Applicant intends to register in its name and on its behalf those domain names that are related to its core business (such as but not limited to: investors, financial advisors, banks, credits, clearing,etc.)The Applicant claims a legitimate interest in domain names that contain a generic description of the Applicant’s products and services offered in its normal course of business. All contacts associated with the domain names that are registered and delegated to the Applicant (i.e., administrative, technical and billing contact) will be associated with the Applicant.

During the second year or third year of operation, the Applicant intends to implement a sunrise service and trademark claims service, which will be organized as follows:

1) Sunrise Period

Applicant understands that, at minimum, it needs to implement a Sunrise Period of 30 days following the launch of the gTLD allowing trademark holders to secure their domain names that correspond with their registered trademarks or any related IP rights.

Although the Applicant does not intend to open the gTLD to the general public it intends to implement a sunrise period in year 1 and year 2 under the following conditions: it will allow its financial advisors and products sponsors and affiliates to apply for a domain name that corresponds with their trademarks and that complies with the procedures laid down by ICANN and the Trademark Clearinghouse.

In no event will any entity or person other than parties that have entered into an agreement with the Applicant prior to a domain name allocation be able to register a domain name within the .lplfinanical TLD. In order to ensure that this restricted policy is adhered to, the Applicant foresees that all domain names will be submitted to a clearance process whereby Applicant’s marketing department will be able to access and register domain names in name and on behalf of their clients within the gTLD. Applicant is aware of the fact that a clear process needs to be established and is committed to having this in place at the time it enters into the Registry Agreement. Furthermore, Applicant intends to publish this information on its website, so that it is clearly communicated to all internet users.

Furthermore, the Applicant will adhere to the terms and conditions as laid down by ICANN with respect to the interfacing with and use of the trademark clearinghouse. The Applicant ensures that it will deploy the necessary interfaces to the trademark clearinghouse in accordance with the technical specifications to be published by the trademark clearinghouse provider, and will also ensure that all records that are validated by the trademark clearinghouse provider and that meet the conditions of the Applicant’s polices will be registered within the .lplfinancial TLD. However, and as already stated, in order to ensure that the domain name applications meet the conditions of registration, all domain name application will be submitted to internal clearance check prior to registration.

Furthermore, the Applicant intends to register all valid sunrise domain name registrations for a minimum period of 2 years or the remainder of the initial term of the Registry Agreement with ICANN. However, the Applicant holds to right to delete any registered domain names that do not comply with the policy restrictions set unilaterally at the Applicant’s discretion.

2. Trademark Claims Services

The Applicant understands that at a minimum it must provide for a period of 60 days for trademark claim services. Under trademark claim services, Applicant understands that any third party that has eligible rights on a trademark, has submitted such evidence to the trademark clearinghouse, and has been validated will be entitled to send a notification when a registrant applies for a domain name that is an exact match to his⁄her trademark.

Applicant also understands that in order to allow this service, its registry database will need to interface with the trademark clearinghouse so that trademark holders will automatically be notified when a registrant applies for a domain name within TLD.

Applicant intends to implement this service at the same time as the Sunrise Period.

3. Identify and address the abusive use of registered on an ongoing basis

Applicant will comply with and implement decisions made according to the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Policy (PDDRP) and the Registration Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) adopted by ICANN. Applicant will also implement decisions made under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution (UDRP) and the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) procedures adopted by ICANN, including suspension of specific domain names within the registry. Applicant understands that such mechanisms constitute a minimum requirement.

Applicant intends to implement and adhere to any remedies ICANN imposes (which may include any reasonable remedy, including for the avoidance of doubt, the termination of the Registry Agreement pursuant to Section 4.3(e) of the Registry Agreement) following a determination by any PDDRP or RRDRP panel and to be bound by any such determination.

By the “Post-delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP)”, we refer to the mechanism that allows a trademark owner to file a complaint against the Applicant claiming that one or more of its trademarks have been infringed, and that it has thereby been harmed, by the Applicant’s manner of operation or use of the .lplfinancial TLD.

Applicant will therefore commit to answering each complaint within forty-five days after the date of the threshold review panel declaration. Applicant will also comply with the procedure, including additional rules and procedures laid down by the selected dispute service provider. Applicant will respect and implement the final decision by deleting the domain name registration in the event that the outcome of the process is in favor of the complainant.

Applicant understands that the “Registration Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP)” is not applicable to the .lplfinancial TLD due to the fact that this is a procedure between an established institution associated with a defined community (i.e. a community related to the gTLD string in the application that is the subject of the dispute) and the Applicant in the event that the latter does not respect the registry agreement.

Furthermore, and as already stated Applicant will set up a contact email where a responsible person will be in charge of making sure that the request from the relevant panels are being answered in due time. All requests will be managed by the marketing department.

The term “Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)”, refers to a dispute resolution mechanism aiming at resolving disputes occurring between a registrar and any party other than the registrar over the registration and use of an Internet domain name registered by the registrar. Applicant will implement the UDRP policy as laid down by ICANN and will publish this on its website.

In the event that the Applicant is made aware of a complaint, the domain name registration will be put on hold until it receives notification from WIPO. In the event that the complainant is successful, the domain name will be deleted.

We understand that the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) is a mechanism designed to offer trademark owners a quick and low-cost procedure to take down infringing websites. We also understand that a complaint will be submitted to an URS provider approved by ICANN. A decision in favor of the complainant will lead to the suspension of the domain name by the Applicant. Unless the decision is reversed, the domain name will lead to a mandatory URS placeholder page for the rest of the registration period.

Concerning the URS, Applicant understands that after the end of the administrative review (i.e. the review which aims at determining that the complaint contains all of the necessary information. This is not a determination as to whether a prima facie case has been established), the URS Provider will notify us immediately that the complaint is considered to be compliant with the filling requirements. Within 24 hours of receipt of the Notice of Complaint from the URS Provider, the Applicant will “lock” the domain, meaning that the Applicant shall restrict all changes to the registration data, including transfer and deletion of the domain names, but the name will continue to resolve. The Applicant will notify the URS Service Provider immediately upon locking the domain name (”Notice of Lock”). If after examination in default case, the examiner rules in favor of the registrant, the URS service provider shall notify the Applicant to unlock the name and return full control of the domain name registration to the registrant. Applicant understands it will be transmitted immediately the decision issued if the determination is in favor of the complainant. Immediately upon receipt of the determination, the Applicant will suspend the domain name, which shall remain suspended for the balance of the registration period and will not resolve to the original web site. The nameservers shall be redirected to an informational web page provided by the URS Service Provider about the URS. The URS Service Provider shall not be allowed to offer any other services on such page, nor shall it directly or indirectly use the web page for advertising purposes (either for itself or any other third party). The Whois for the domain name shall continue to display all of the information of the original registrant except for the redirection of the nameservers. In addition, the Whois shall reflect that the domain name will not be able to be transferred, deleted or modified for the life of the registration.

4. Other mechanisms

The Applicant refers to its 1) domain name abuse policy and 2) internal checks.

As already stated in the response to question 28, the Applicant will not tolerate any abusive use or misuse of domain names or websites. For further details we refer to question 28.

In addition, the Applicant ensures that all domain name will be submitted to a clearance process in order to ensure that the domain name applied for complies with the abuse registration polices as set out by the governance committee

5. Resource Planning

As already stated above, Applicant intends to create a Governance Committee that will oversee the team within the marketing department that is responsible for the initial implementation and ongoing maintenance of abuse prevention and mitigation.
Both the Governance Committee and the marketing department will consist of highly skilled professionals, experienced in legal, business and technical domain name matters.

In addition, as these domain names within the TLD will be provided as an additional service to the Applicant’s current services, the Applicant does not foresee to hire any additional staff for this specific purpose. Furthermore, Applicant’s marketing department consists out of approximately 90 professionals and is led by a chief marketing officer and supported by legal department that consists out of approximately 40 professionals.

At the start-up phase, Applicant intends to dedicate 0,5 FTE. In the event that Applicant would need to dedicate more staff then Applicant shall allocate more resources. For more information on the finanical projections, we refer to our responses in Question 46 and 47.

Similar gTLD applications: (1)