gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.booking	Booking.com B.V.	markmonitor.com	View

In line with Booking.com’s mission and purpose for the .booking gTLD, it is first and foremost important for Booking.com to safeguard and protect the key element out of its BOOKING.COM trademark at the top level of the DNS’ hierarchy. Such protection does not only extend to the actual registration, delegation and use of the TLD, but also to the domain names that are registered therein, and how these domain names are used.

Considering the fact that the actual award and delegation of the .booking gTLD to Booking.com is subject to the successful evaluation of our application, we have not yet defined in detail:

* the types of domain names that will be registered;
* who will be entitled to select which domain names will be registered
* who will be entitled to register such domain names;
* who will be entitled to use such domain names, and
* which types of use will be allowed or recommended.

As we believe that the development and implementation of one or more business cases could likely take a couple of months or even years, we have only focused on a number of high-level characteristics of our plans in relation to the operation of the .booking gTLD.

By all means, it is in Booking.com’s self-interest to, on the one hand, make the most of this initiative, promote its own business interests, and mitigate risks for its brand and brand reputation, whilst also reducing the (social) costs for others.

In this context, we intend to devise policies that encompass and comprise the following features:

At least during the initial months or even years following the delegation of the .booking gTLD to Booking.com, this extension is likely going to be a so-called “single registrant TLD” as contemplated by ICANN in Article 4.5 of the template Registry Operator Agreement (“Transition of Registry upon Termination of Agreement”). For the avoidance of doubt, a “single registrant TLD” is a TLD where “(i) all domain name registrations in the TLD are registered to, and maintained by, Registry Operator for its own exclusive use, and (ii) Registry Operator does not sell, distribute or transfer control or use of any registrations in the TLD to any third party that is not an Affiliate of Registry Operator.”

Therefore, parties who are not Booking.com will not be entitled to register domain names in the .booking gTLD.

Booking.com believes this to be in line with two of the main elements in its vision and mission statement, namely:

* Protecting and safeguarding the BOOKING.COM brand and its reputation, by keeping full control over the entire operation of the .booking registry and every domain name registered therein; and

* Guaranteeing to Booking.com’s key stakeholders who are interacting with Booking.com, by using domain names registered in .booking that they are in fact interacting with the brand owner.

Consequently, there will be no (social) costs for non-eligible (third) parties, given the fact that they will be unable to register domain names in the .booking gTLD in the first place.

However, even if only Booking.com will be entitled to register domain names, this does not exclude the hypothesis that disputes may arise with one or more third parties as regards domain names that are registered in the .booking gTLD.

In order to avoid these risks, Booking.com intends to implement the following policies and processes:

First, the domain names to be registered by Booking.com will likely relate to the following:

* registered trademarks of Booking.com;
* names of affiliates or hotel partners of Booking.com;
* names of departments within Booking.com
* names of subsidiaries.

Furthermore, Booking.com envisages registering a fair number of generic words that are directly or indirectly related to the day-to-day business activities and operations of Booking.com and its Affiliates.

Prior to effectively registering such domain names in the .booking gTLD, Booking.com will require its legal department to review the list of these domain names on a regular basis in order to satisfy itself that they will not infringe the rights of third parties.

In any case, Booking.com shall claim to have a legitimate interest in these domain names, as they are merely descriptive of the activities, products or services of Booking.com. So even if one or more of these domain names would be protected by a registered trademark, held by a third party, it is likely that a claim under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy or Uniform Rapid Suspension policy will fail.

As regards the names referred to in Specification 5 to the template Registry Operator Agreement, Booking.com will follow the processes and procedures established by ICANN and the Governmental Advisory Committee.

If Booking.com would determine, at its sole discretion, that it will gradually allow certain categories of stakeholders to register domain names in the .booking gTLD in their own name, Booking.com will devise policies to that effect.

However, Booking.com will at all times be entitled to restrict, limit or expand, among others:

* the category or categories of stakeholders who will be entitled to register one or more domain names in the .booking gTLD, including their criteria for qualification;
* the choice of domain name(s) registered in the .booking gTLD by and per such eligible stakeholder (category);
* the use made by an and per eligible stakeholder of a domain name registered in the .booking gTLD;
* the transfer of domain names registered in .booking..

Booking.com shall reserve the right to subject the registration or use of a domain name to internal approval processes and procedures, at each and every step of the domain name life cycle.

Given the fact that Booking.com may release such available domain names post launch in a highly controlled manner, this also reduces the likelihood that two or more applicants qualify for the registration of the same domain name in the .booking top-level domain;

As a method of last resort, and subject to the actual domain name registration policy adopted by the Registry Operator and in force at the time of registration, domain names will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

In any event, Booking.com reserves the right to change or restrict any policies, procedures and practices at any point in time, especially if it is of the opinion that there would be a risk that, e.g. the reputation of the BOOKING.COM brand would be damaged.

The Applicant intends to make the .booking top-level domain available to qualifying domain name registrants at no cost to them; if the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator would be required to charge a fee for the registration of domain names under the .booking TLD, the fee will be set at a cost-recovery or arm’s length basis, to be determined at that time by the Registry.

If Booking.com will be required to or would decide to increase the fees for the registration of domain names, such increases will keep pace with the comparable market rates at that point in time.

So, in brief:

1. The Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator may reserve, delegate and use a potentially large number of domain names that are directly or indirectly relevant to Applicant’s business in its own name. Since some of these domain names could be of a descriptive nature, the chances for qualifying ⁄ eligible applicants ⁄ registrants to register such domain names after the launch will be limited;

2. The Registry Operator shall be entitled at all times to release available domain names post launch in a highly controlled manner, which also reduces the likelihood that two or more applicants qualify for the registration of the same domain name in the .booking top-level domain;

3. As a method of last resort, and subject to the actual domain name registration policy adopted by the Registry Operator and in force at the time of registration, domain names will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis;

4. If the Applicant decides to allow third parties to register a domain name under the .booking TLD, the Applicant intends to make.booking top-level domains available to qualifying domain name registrants at no cost to them; if the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator would be required to charge a fee for the registration of domain names under the .booking TLD, the fee will be set at a cost-recovery or arm’s length basis, to be determined at that time by the Registry;

5. If the Applicant ⁄ Registry Operator will be required to increase the fees for the registration of domain names, such increases are intended to keep pace with comparable market rates. However, the Registry Operator shall at all times be entitled to bundle the registration of domain names with other products or services offered by or on behalf of Booking.com at a fee to be set by the Registry Operator.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.信息	Beijing Tele-info Network Technology Co., Ltd.	tele-info.cn	View

18c.1 Definition and category of social costs

ʺ.信息ʺ will mainly be used within the Chinese language community, where a majority of the registrants is predicted as emerging small and medium-sized information industry players in developing countries. Therefore, it would be difficult to achieve the targets of ʺ.信息ʺ if the social costs are too high. To achieve the goals of ʺ.信息ʺ , Beijing Tele-info Network Technology Co., Ltd. (“Tele-info Ltd.”) will minimize the following time or financial resource costs of registrants, registrars and end-users via policies and measures on ʺ.信息ʺ as far as possible. As predicted by Tele-info Ltd., the operation of ʺ.信息ʺ will mainly produce the following costs:

18c.1.1For registrants:
(1)costs for the registration of ʺ.信息ʺ domain names
(2)costs for the renewal of ʺ.信息ʺ domain names
(3)costs for trademark infringement dispute or defensive registration
(4)additional advertising costs incurred from the promotion of ʺ.信息ʺ domain names

18c.1.2For registrars:
(1) payment to the registry
(2)costs for the promotion and marketing of ʺ.信息ʺ domain names
(3)costs for the operation and maintenance of ʺ.信息ʺ registration services

18c.1.3For end-users:
(1)time costs for searching, inputting and memorizing the ʺ.信息ʺ domain names
(2)losses incurred to the consumer as a result of ʺ.信息ʺ domain name abuse

18c.2 Policies on ʺ.信息ʺ to minimize social costs

18c.2.1 For registrants:

18c.2.1.1 Reasonable prices of registration will be provided
(1)A reasonable uniform price for registration and renewal will be formulated in the contractual terms for ʺ.信息ʺ based on its market demand and operating costs (see Question 46 for details), and the prices will be maintained stable to compete fairly with other TLDs, so as to ensure that registrants, especially those with relatively weak economic capability are able to register the ʺ.信息ʺ domain names.
(2)As the registration of ʺ.信息ʺ increases, the unit operating cost for every domain will keep decreasing, and Tele-info Ltd. will, based on the decrease in its operating costs, adjust the prices accordingly, and thereafter provide each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed registry-registrar agreement for ʺ.信息ʺ advance notice of any price change;
(3)During ordinary registration period, except sunrise and Land Rush period, Tele-info Ltd. will handle multiple applications for the same name on the basis of first-come⁄first serve to effectively reduce the bidding costs spent by registrants and enable more small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain high value domain names with relatively lower prices;
(4)Tele-info Ltd. forbids registrars to register domain names with false information, occupy domain name resources in a disguised form or drive up domain name prices;
(5) The Chinese internationalized domain label(IDL) and itʹs variants labels are mandated to be belong to the same registrant⁄applicant, and the Simplified and Traditional Chinese forms of the applied-for should be resolvable simultaneously or non-resolvable at all in ʺ.信息ʺ domain. Tele-info Ltd.’s policy will mandate that when an IDL is registered, all variant IDLs in the IDL package are unavailable to other name holders. In addition to the registered IDL, the registry will activate Simplified and Traditional whole string IDLs to the same registrant⁄applicant for free.

18c.2.1.2 Costs for the renewal of domain names will be effectively reduced
(1) Registrants, at their own discretion, can choose registration term from 1 year to 10 years (maximum 10 years) and renew their registration based on their own will, and will provide in its agreement with registrars that to buy or sell under coercion, sale with treats or selling bundled services on the part of registrars are prohibited;
(2) At the initial operating period of ʺ.信息ʺ , incentive measures will be taken to encourage new registrants to register ʺ.信息ʺ for a longer term of registration; Newly registrants will be provided certain term of registration period for free depending on the length of registration period, so as to expedite the popularization and lower the costs of domain names;
(3) Tele-info Ltd. customer service group will conduct monitoring over consumersʹ renewal of domain names, investigate cases where renewal fails to take place, or fake renewal notice and make improvement in services to the point in cooperation with registrars to make it more convenient for consumers to renew their domain names or change registrar and reduce costs for registrants;

18c.2.1.3 Trademark rights will be fully guaranteed and costs for domain name dispute will be reduced
(1) A Sunrise Period of 30 days will be launched in accordance with relevant policies of ICANN on Trademark Clearing House(TMCH) to allow right holders who have registered trademarks in TMCH to register ʺ.信息ʺ domain names with priority; Trademark Claim Service will be provided 60 days as of the launch of the Sunrise Period for applications for the registration of domain names that match with corresponding trademarks, so as to allow trademark holders to protect their trademark rights through registration and reduce costs resulting from domain name disputes;
(2) The UDRP, Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure(PDDRP) and Registry Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) and relevant Uniform Rapid Suspension Policies will be abided by in respect of ʺ.信息ʺ . In addition, accessibility of 99% information in the Whois database will be assured so that domain name abuse and dispute under ʺ.信息ʺ can be resolved in a timely manner and that losses incurred to domain name holders as a result of domain name abuse and trademark infringement can be reduced to the greatest extent possible;
(3) Efforts will be made to introduce to registrants innovative applications of the Chinese ʺ.信息ʺ domain name, enable consumers to get to know the use value of Chinese domain names, increase the level of activity of domain names, reduce investments in domain name registration purely for defensive purposes, and upgrade the practical value of domain names;
(4)Tele-info Ltd. will undertake to treat all registrants equally, and except for domain names pre-reserved or restricted from registration as prescribed by national laws and relevant provisions of ICANN for they are in relation with geographical names or the names of international organizations involving public power, all holders of trademark rights will be entitled to the same registration right;

18c.2.1.4 Costs for the promotion of domain names will be reduced
(1) ʺ.信息ʺ supports various combinations of Chinese characters, and a ʺ.信息ʺ domain name can be made exactly match the Chinese name of a corresponding organization, which makes it convenient for consumers to read and memorize, improves effectiveness in the publicity of the name of the organization, and makes it easy for itself to be accepted by most of the Chinese language end-users without too much costs;
(2) Tele-info Ltd. will reinforce in its publicity plans the promotion of typical cases of the application of ʺ.信息ʺ domain names and boost publicity among registrants from sideways, and concurrently increase acceptance of Chinese domain names by consumers to save publicity costs;

18c.2.2 For registrars:

18c.2.2.1.Tele-info Ltd. will reduce the costs to be paid by registrars to registries to the greatest extent possible
(1)Tele-info Ltd. will provide all registrars accredited by ICANN with uniform policies on prices, preferential treatments and discounts to ensure that registrars can engage in fair competition;
(2)the pricing of ʺ.信息ʺ domain names in registrars is relatively low as compared to other IDNs of the same category, therefore there is a room with competitive advantage for surrendering part of the profits on the part of the registrars;

18c.2.2.2 costs for the promotion and marketing of ʺ.信息ʺ
(1)Tele-info Ltd. will be engaged in active cooperation with registrars in carrying out diversified marketing activities, including advertising and news release, and designate staffs to attend sales conferences organized by registrars and promote their sale;
(2)Tele-info Ltd. will support registrars with a specifically allocated marketing fund for ʺ.信息ʺ to develop markets especially in areas with a relatively low internet penetration rate and stimulate the practical use of the DNS system and Chinese domain names throughout the world;

18c.2.2.3 costs for the operation of ʺ.信息ʺ
(1)Registrars will not be charged with any certification cost, and any registrar that qualifies for the provision of ʺ.信息ʺ registration services may apply to become a ʺ.信息ʺ registrar;
(2)The back end registry provider CNNIC will provide relatively mature registrar support staffs and secure and reliable registration service platform and client which are ready to help registrars to establish ʺ.信息ʺ domain name registration services with the lowest costs;

18c.2.3.For end-users:

18c.2.3.1 costs for searching, inputting and memorizing the ʺ.信息ʺ domain name will be reduced

(1)With the efforts of Tele-info Ltd. and the Chinese language community, currently most of the browsers and application vendors support the input of Chinese domain names, which has reduced costs resulting from incompatibility;
(2)Tele-info Ltd. is also actively cooperating with CNNIC to involve software vendors especially mobile software vendors including Chinese language search engines as Baidu to include Chinese domain names in the search results and make it convenient for consumers to accept Chinese domain names;
(3) The form of the ʺ.信息ʺ domain name also fit neatly with the reading and memory habits of Chinese language users and reduces additional time costs incurred from domain name confusion.

18c.2.3.2 Losses resulting domain name abuse will be reduced

(1) The back end registry provider CNNICʹs experience will be utilized to impose punishment with respect to such acts of domain name abuse as phishing websites and virus transmission in a timely manner to reduce consumersʹ costs, and Tele-info Ltd. undertakes that the percentage of ʺ.信息ʺ domain name abuse will not exceed 5%;
(2) Registrars will be required to verify the accuracy of information in WHOIS, so as to ensure that law enforcement agencies can find the person who has committed act of domain name abuse and resolution of dispute can be obtained in time with respect to the rights of consumers and end users.
(3) The Chinese internationalized domain label and itʹs variants labels will be mandated by Tele-info Ltd.ʹs policy following the rules as the Simplified and Traditional Chinese forms of the applied-for should be resolvable simultaneously for the same registrant⁄applicant or non-resolvable at all in ʺ.信息ʺ domain. This will reduce the chance of string confusion caused by Chinese variant domain names.
(4) Tele-info Ltd. will review the performance of CNNIC as back-end registry provider for its compliance of the contract and ICANN Registry Operator Code of Conduct in order to guarantee the service level of ʺ.信息ʺ

18c.3 Specific measures to minimize social costs

18c.3.1 Multiple Application Resolution

Tele-info Ltd. will, based on the rights protection mechanism of ICANN, make Sunrise registration services available for holders of relevant trademark rights during the 30-day Sunrise Period prior to the official launch of the public registration of the ʺ.信息ʺ domain name. All trademark right holders will be entitled to equal priority in registration. Thereafter a Land Rush period of 60 days will be launched for the general public.

Tele-info Ltd. will adopt an auction process in case of any domain name string contention during the above periods.

By auctioning domain names, the value of a domain name would be captured by the public, rather than by private entities that are rewarded too handsomely for their limited insights into the possible value of a name or their work as registrars. Yet, a domain name auction would not interfere with the exploitation and development of cyberspace, as new names would be allocated by the auction system to those who valued them most highly. Indeed, it would speed the transfer of a domain name to its highest valued use, short-circuiting the current system that relies on privately negotiated sales to transfer the name from its initial owner to its highest valued user.

Tele-info Ltd. expects that a high volume of domain name registration and contention emerges during the Sunrise period and Land Rush period. To the extent that there are multiple persons who claim trademark rights in a domain name, a simple general rule would award that name to the trademark holder who is willing to pay the most for it. Since economic strength often translates into public visibility, awarding the name to the entity that is willing to pay the most for it will probably accord with individual web-surfers expectations as to whom they will find at a website with that domain name. By auctioning domain names, rather than doling them out to the first applicant, the resource that the domain name system represents works directly in the information industry’s interest. The proceeds of the auctions should be distributed by an information industry based body.

After the Sunrise Period and Land Rush period, which means the string contention is less likely to be seen, Tele-info Ltd. will resolve domain name string contention on the first-come⁄first serve basis to reduce the cost for auction. Where any domain name dispute occurs, UDRP shall apply. Besides, either party may resort to arbitration or judicial decision, or consumers may file complaints with URS in view of domain name use with bad faith.

18c.3.2 Cost Benefits for Registrants

To drive the stable development of ʺ.信息ʺ , Tele-info Ltd. plans to adopt a two-stage promotion scheme based on the principle of providing fair and consistent preferential policies for all registrants and registries. The first stage will be consumer incentives, during which domain name registrants will be stimulated to enhance the popularity and acceptability of domain names; and the second stage will be channel incentives, during which further support will be provided for registrars to conduct marketing on the basis of consumers’ recognition in the first stage.

18c.3.2.1 First stage

18c.3.2.1.1 Targets
(1) enhance the popularity and acceptability of domain names among consumers, and increase market attention;
(2) increase the average term of registration of initial registered domain names and ensure the stability of domain name users.

18c.3.2.1.2 Methods

Tele-info Ltd. will take incentive measures directly targeted at consumers to encourage them to register ʺ.信息ʺ for a longer term of registration and provide certain term of the registration period for free of charge with respect to newly registered domain names, so as to expedite the popularization and increase the average new registration of domain names:

 (1) An one-year exemption will be granted to the users who register one time for four to six years ;
 (2) A two-year exemption will be granted to the users who register one time for seven to nine years; and
 (3) A three-year exemption will be granted to the users who register one time for ten years.

18c.3.2.1.3 Period

The period of the first stage will be the first natural year after the launch of ʺ.信息ʺ for registration, with an implementation period for no less than 6 natural months, which will extends to the second natural year for 1-2 quarters if there are less than 6 months left in the first natural year.

18c.3.2.2 Second stage

18c.3.2.2.1Targets

(1)encourage registrars to increase the new registration of the ʺ.信息ʺ domain name;
(2)encourage registrars to increase renewals of historical ʺ.信息ʺ domain names;
(3)encourage registrars to increase the proportion of their ʺ.信息ʺ domain name

18c.3.2.2.2Methods
Tele-info Ltd. will invest a specifically allocated marketing fund amount to 50,000 - 75,000 RMB on a quarterly basis for promotion in those regions with lower domain name market penetration rate or lower renewal rate. By taking measures including local sales fairs, advertising campaign and other formats of promotional activities in those regions lagged behind within Chinese language community, in comparison with the benchmark of the last quarter’s average performance, Tele-info Ltd. will endeavor enhance the overall acceptance of the new gTLD and the Chinese domain name applications.

18c.3.2.2.3Period
The period of the second stage shall be 12 natural months as of the end of the first stage, and appraisement will be conducted on a quarterly basis.

18c.3.3 Contractual Provisions on Pricing Change

18c.3.3.1 Limit on price increase

Based on the expected increasing amount of the registration of ʺ.信息ʺ , the single unit service cost for each registration is expected to be reduced. However, we do anticipate a little chance for cost increase in the following cases:
(1) fewer registration numbers than anticipated
(2) economic environment change with higher inflation rate in China
(3) tax increase
(4) labor cost increase
(5) Other market condition variation which may result in severe cost change

Based on our analysis of the 2011 Consumer Product Index and Purchase Management Index of China, Tele-info Ltd. currently proposes in ʺ.信息ʺ contract that permit it to raise by 7% per year for registry services per name that Tele-info Ltd. collects from registrars. However, as described in the above sections, Tele-info Ltd. will strive to maintain a stable cost for registration with low possibility for price change.

Due to uncertainty of the market environment at the time of delegation, the actual contractual terms of annual price increase magnitude within the registry agreement shall be discussed within ICANN community and the information industrial community based on the market status at the time of delegation.

18c.3.3.2 Notice of Price Increase

With respect to initial domain name registrations, Tele-info Ltd. will provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD advance written notice of any price increase (including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs, 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) of no less than thirty (30) calendar days. Tele-info Ltd. will offer registrars 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.

With respect to renewal of domain name registrations, Tele-info Ltd. will provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD advance written notice of any price increase (including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying, Qualified Marketing Programs or other programs which had the effect of reducing the price charged to registrars) of no less than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days.

In addition, Tele-info Ltd. will have uniform pricing for renewals of domain name registrations (“Renewal Pricing”). For the purposes of determining Renewal Pricing, the price for each domain registration renewal will be identical to the price of all other domain name registration renewals in place at the time of such renewal, and such price must take into account universal application of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs in place at the time of renewal.