gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.art	Dadotart, Inc.	deviantart.com	View

18.3.1 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)?

Dadotart believes the proposed operating rules that undertake to initially reserve key names including trademarks, as well as its proposed policies on eligibility, name selection and name use will provide clarity and predictability to name registration, thereby reducing social costs. In full operation the .ART gTLD will provide a trusted online environment for the arts community. There should be no need for other trademark and brand owners to defensively register in the gTLD. This verified eco-system also provides consumers with a single trusted source for arts information and communication. Dadotart also believes that the safeguards set forth in the Applicant Guidebook and the proposed business modeled outlined in Sections 18.1 and 18.1.2 and the policies planned and noted in 18.2.4 will minimize and potential negative social costs.


18.3.2 What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences⁄costs imposed upon consumers?
Dadotart believes that the proposed operation of the .ART gTLD as set forth in this application has no known negative consequences or cost implications for consumers. To the contrary, the proposed operation of this registry will likely lead to direct and quantifiable benefits to consumers. Dadotart believes that by following the core values as identified in Section 18.2 it will be able provide real value to the consumer and minimize any potential negative consequences⁄costs.

More particularly, the three phases of PAB creation, pre-launch, and launch and ongoing registration of the .ART gTLD are designed to minimize social costs and negative externalities. They protect potential registrants and potentially affected parties while maximizing the value of the name space to its registrants and users.

This approach is based on the premise that extensive screening efforts by the registry in the early stages will create a fair and orderly name space with lower compliance costs in the long term.

18.3.3 How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first-serve basis?
In phases and areas where the first-come-first-served principle tends to yield perverse results, alternative modes will be used.

(1) In the PAB creation phase community research will identify names to be entered into reserved lists and the rules by which they will be allocated;
(2) In the pre-launch phase key portal names of use to the entire community will be registered and used for communication and outreach; and
(3) A launch phase led by protection for and registration by trademark holders and those eligible to hold names on reserved lists.


It is anticipated that the pre-launch portal development program identified in (2) above will involve key participants in the Art Community. The portal development program will allocate domain names based on an open and transparent project selection process. This process is highly economical in terms of social costs and yields substantial external benefits.

The portal development program is an essential part of .ART outreach. It begins before delegation of the TLD. In terms of workload and it mainly affects proposers who themselves are required to demonstrate support for their projects. Support will be required to come from the segment of the community concerned with the respective portion of the name space. Given the high value of the resulting on-line resources for the community and the public interest, and given the economic benefits that can be derived from their operation, the administrative effort is largely justified. To further protect affected parties, all adjudications in name space mandates have a safety-valve clause, allowing for later adjustments based on community input. The principle of the safety-valve is that affected parties can obtain adjustments to a component of a mandate if they propose (and commit to) an improved use of the underlying domain names from a public interest perspective.

The launch programs referred to in (3) above combine the so-called “sunrise” and “landrush” processes simultaneously in one phase. The use of domain applications instead of domain registrations means that the registry accepts multiple applications the same domain name. (By contrast, only a single registration can exist for a given domain.) In this way, contention resolution can take place without time pressure in a transparent, fair and orderly manner.


At the time of ongoing registration the first-come rule will be followed. Registrations will be checked in a post-validation process and subject to an enforcement program based on statistically targeted random investigation and complaint follow-up. This program minimizes both costs to registrants and third parties. In particular, it strongly diminishes the attractiveness of rights violations, abuse or malignant behavior. Having been preceded by a controlled launch phase, the validation and enforcement workload faces no resource bottleneck and thus achieves a high degree of credibility, further dissuading abuse from the start. This mode of operation has a strong positive side effect in the interest of trademark holders.


18.3.3 How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first-serve basis?
As described below, during pre-launch and launch phase, the first-come-first-served principle is NOT applied. Adjudication by auction is one of the solutions available to the parties in the context of the contention resolution process. In the phase of ongoing registrations the first-come⁄first-served basis of name allocation will be followed, unless the name is one that is on a reserved list, in which case the allocation rules applicable to that list will be followed.

In phases and areas where the first-come-first-served principle tends to yield perverse results, alternative modes will be used.

(1) In the PAB creation phase community research will identify names to be entered into reserved lists and the rules by which they will be allocated;
(2) In the pre-launch phase key portal names of use to the entire community will be registered and used for communication and outreach; and
A launch phase led by protection for and registration by trademark holders and those eligible to hold names on reserved lists.

It is anticipated that the pre-launch portal development program identified in (2) above will involve builders and users in the Art community. The portal development program will allocate domain names based on an open and transparent project selection process. This process is highly economical in terms of social costs and yields substantial external benefits.

The portal development program is an essential part of .Art outreach. It begins before delegation of the TLD. In terms of workload, it mainly affects proposers who themselves are required to demonstrate support for their projects. Support will be required to come from the segment of the community concerned with the respective portion of the name space. Given the high value of the resulting on-line resources for the community and the public interest, and given the economic benefits that can be derived from their operation, the administrative effort is largely justified. To further protect affected parties, all adjudications in name space mandates have a safety-valve clause, allowing for later adjustments based on community input. The principle of the safety-valve is that affected parties can obtain adjustments to a component of a mandate if they propose (and commit to) an improved use of the underlying domain names from a public interest perspective.

The launch programs referred to in (3) above combine the so-called “sunrise” and “landrush” processes simultaneously in one phase. The use of domain applications instead of domain registrations means that the registry accepts multiple applications the same domain name. (By contrast, only a single registration can exist for a given domain.) In this way, contention resolution can take place without time pressure in a transparent, fair and orderly manner.

At the time of ongoing registration the first-com rule will be followed. Registrations will be checked in a post-validation process and subject to an enforcement program based on statistically targeted random investigation and complaint follow-up. This program minimizes both costs to registrants and third parties. In particular, it strongly diminishes the attractiveness of rights violations, abuse or malignant behaviour. Having been preceded by a controlled launch phase, the validation and enforcement workload faces no resource bottleneck and thus achieves a high degree of credibility, further dissuading abuse from the start. This mode of operation has a strong positive side effect in the interest of trademark holders.

18.3.4 Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).
The focus of the .ART gTLD is a competitive cost to registrants and stakeholders that takes into account the limited community nature of the gTLD. This takes into account all burdens, including the effort needed to register or the potential alternative cost to obtain a name on the secondary market. The direct per-unit cost is merely a component of the bottom-line cost.

The cost is greatly reduced by avoiding contention between legitimate community-based applicants and speculators. Community-specific promotion code programs will be used from time to time to offer registrations at low cost. This is a way to avoid perverse effects of low prices, such as speculation with ultimately high costs to registrants, large-scale confusion and waste of the name space, or cybersquatting.

The portal development program will have special terms in order ensure that key portions of name space are used in the public interest.

18.3.5 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 .ART TLD will not be based on or otherwise involve contractual clauses regarding price escalation between the .ART Registry and its registrars.

The .ART business plan is designed to avoid any future necessity to increase registry price in real terms. The fundamental principle is prudence: starting from conservative price levels that allow self-sustainability at the registration levels projected and gradually lowering prices as registration volumes increase beyond the minimum necessary for self-sustained operation. This method ensures sufficient financial reserves, favors optimal allocation of domain names, helps prevent misuse and supports an orderly registration process.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.sport	SportAccord	sportaccord.com	View

Q18c Social-Costs
18.c.1 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 pre-launch, launch and ongoing registration phases of the .SPORT TLD are designed to minimize social costs and negative externalities. They protect potential registrants and potentially affected parties while maximizing the value of the name space to its registrants and users. This approach is based on the premise that extensive screening efforts by the registry in the early stages will create a fair and orderly name space with lower compliance costs in the long term. In phases and areas where the first-come-first-served principle tends to yield perverse results, alternative modes are used. The introduction involves the following phases:

0) Lexical Research.
1) A pioneer name program and name space mandate program.
2) A long launch phase based on domain applications and contention resolution.
3) Ongoing registration.


0) Lexical Research:
This is necessary for reserved names and key name assignments. Research will analyze the usage of key strings in a sport context. This initiative will be conducted by SportAccord and overseen by the PAB.


1) Pioneer name program and name space mandate program:

These programs adjudicate domain names based on an open and transparent project selection process. This process is highly economical in terms of social costs and yields substantial external benefits.

The pioneer name and name space mandate programs are part of the .sport outreach program. It begins before delegation of the TLD. In terms of workload, it mainly affects proposers who themselves are required to demonstrate support for their projects. Support will be required to come from the segment of the community concerned with the respective portion of the name space. Given the high value of the resulting on-line resources for the community and the public interest, and given the economic benefits that can be derived from their operation, the administrative effort is largely justified. To further protect affected parties, all adjudications in name space mandates have a safety-valve clause, allowing for later adjustments based on community input. The principle of the safety-valve is that affected parties can obtain adjustments to a component of a mandate if they propose (and commit to) an improved use of the underlying domain names from a public interest perspective.

2) Launch phase:

The launch combines the so-called “sunrise” and “landrush” processes simultaneously in one phase. The EPP protocol with standardized extensions for TLD launch phases will be used. The use of domain registration requests instead of synchronous domain registrations means that the registry accepts multiple EPP registration requests for the same domain name. (By contrast, only a single active registration can exist for a given domain.) In this way, contention resolution can take place without time pressure in a transparent, fair and orderly manner.

During the launch phase, the time stamp of domain registration request is not relevant for priority. Adjudication is based on priority differentiation and, in case of equal priority, through a largely automated, multi-step contention resolution process. This mechanism has the lowest aggregate social costs and the aggregate highest public benefits while individually protecting each stakeholder from the risk of an excessive burden.

All applications are published on the Whois service. Requesters mark their prior rights by specifying the class they claim to qualify for in the registration request. There are five fundamental classes: sports governing bodies, sports clubs, corporate partners, athletes and defensive registrations.

Pre-defined presumptive priority rules are based on the lexical research conducted prior to launch and principles of priority. During the launch phase, the registration requests along with the presumptive priority are published on the Whois. Affected parties can submit comments regarding the presumptive priority.

For a given domain, the highest priority applications will be validated with respect to the claimed priority right. If there is more than one application for the same domain in that priority class, a contention resolution process begins. The contention resolutions process allows agreement between contenders (withdrawal and refund of application), an RFP, and, as a tie-breaker of last resort, auction.

The options available to a contender are thus designed to promote quiet resolution by way of withdrawal, RFP or auction. Thanks to automation this minimize efforts for all parties.

3) Ongoing registration phase:

Registrations are checked in a post-validation process and subject to an enforcement program based on statistically targeted random investigation and complaint follow-up. This program minimizes both costs to registrants and third parties. In particular, it strongly diminishes the attractiveness of rights violations, abuse or malicious behavior. Having been preceded by a controlled launch phase, the validation and enforcement workload faces no resource bottleneck and thus achieves a high degree of credibility, further dissuading abuse from the start. This mode of operation has a strong positive side effect in the interest of trademark holders.


18.c.2 How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first- serve basis?

As described above, during pre-launch and launch phase, the first-come-first-served principle is NOT applied. However, due to the limited and restrictive nature of the .SPORT namespace, SportAccord does envisage the case of multiple Sport community members vying for the same domain name. However, in the event there are multiple registrations a domain name either during Sunrise or Landrush, a two-step process will determine which registrant receives the domain. Contending registrants may be asked to submit a propose use plan as well as an evaluation fee to demonstrate to SportAccord how the TLD will be used. Emphasis will be placed on developing and deploying the domain in the general interest of the Sport community. In the event that there is no clear winner, or if the contending parties prefer skipping comparative evaluation, adjudication by auction is the tie-breaker of last resort.


18.c.3 Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

The focus of the .SPORT TLD is the bottom-line cost to registrants and stakeholders. This takes into account all burdens, including the effort needed to register or the potential alternative cost to obtain a name on the secondary market. The direct per-unit cost is merely a component of the bottom-line cost.

The bottom-line cost is greatly reduced thanks to avoiding contention between legitimate community-based applicants on one side and speculators on the other. This is a way to avoid potential perverse effects of low prices, such as speculation with ultimately high costs to registrants, large-scale confusion and waste of the name space, or cybersquatting. Certain names such as initial reserved registry names will have special contractual terms in order ensure that key portions of name space are used in the public interest.


18.c.4 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.

SportAccord is committed to providing domain name registration services in accordance with the periods set forth in the registry agreement and providing domain name registrants with pricing predictability. SportAccord further acknowledges that the current template Registry Agreement requires that the Registry Operator “shall offer registrars the option to obtain registration periods for one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar.”

In connection with premium domain names, SportAccord will set pricing for premium⁄pioneering domain names, as well as renewal terms, in advance of these domain names being offered for registration. However, in connection with this class of domain names, there may be additional requirements that would legally bind these registrants in connection with the registration and use of these domain names. These terms will be known by this class of domain name registrants prior to the creation of any legal obligation between the parties.

Overall, the design of the .SPORT introduction is to ensure that prices will tend to fall over time rather than ever having to be increased. This means that initially, prices will be relatively high. Gradual adjustment follows depending on experience. This sliding price paradigm achieves the best resource allocation. Price increases for financial reasons would only have to be contemplated in case of inflation. However, it cannot be excluded that, by consensus within the Sport community, the price of certain categories of registrations must be adjusted for policy reasons in the general interest.