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

Prototypical answer:

I. WHAT IS THE GOAL OF YOUR PROPOSED GTLD IN TERMS OF AREAS OF SPECIALTY, SERVICE LEVELS, OR REPUTATION?

The aim of .LAT, as far as specialization, reputation and levels of service, is to offer a gTLD directed specifically to the latin market, with an ongoing commitment to maintain stability of the Internet, implementing the highest levels of service to offer a service that is trustworthy and up to par with the industry. The .LAT will undertake the necessary marketing and communication efforts to ensure a high degree of identification with the latin market. With .LAT we aim to create a TLD that really knows the latin market, and which permanently is keeping abreast of the needs of this market, in order to respond appropriately with services and policies which will address these needs.

II. WHAT DO YOU ANTICIPATE YOUR PROPOSED GTLD WILL ADD TO THE CURRENT SPACE, IN TERMS OF COMPETITION, DIFFERENTIATION, OR INNOVATION?

Competition promotes innovation, since it can multiply the benefit of innovating. The .LAT will present a platform for innovation, for the offer of online services and products from and to the latin market. The .LAT itself has an important differentiation factor since it relates directly to latinos, enabling their easy identification and adoption by the consumers.

The .LAT is presented as a globally visible domain that provides a space for the spirit of integration of the latinos, that need not depend on the limitations of the existing generic TLDs. At the same time it participates in expanding the distribution of the Internet infrastructure outside of the more developed countries.

.LAT TLD will be dedicated to serve the interests of the latino market, focusing on a differentiated marketing effort which will be tailored for this market, offering services of the highest level suitable to the market and it’s special characteristics.

Knowing the market enables us to approach it, enter into alliances to ensure that the TLD penetrates the market, guaranteeing effective distribution and promotion to the market that we wish to serve. We will differentiate from the other TLDs in the service and the marketing.

III. WHAT GOALS DOES YOUR PROPOSED GTLD HAVE IN TERMS OF USER EXPERIENCE?

Latinos have in common a strong heritage, a mixture of vestiges of an ancient civilization and the language and religion brought from the old continent by the colonizers. If diverse in various aspects, latinos from different countries and origins have found the way to set common grounds to facilitate supranational cooperation mechanisms, while preserving what makes them different and unique.

Thus, Latin society shares literature, music, movies and more. The communication and entertainment industry (TV, radio, newspapers, books, films) recognizes the relevance of the Latino community and how fundamental this segment is for its business purposes. This segmentation allows them to customize products and services focusing in a single community that regardless of their nationality will always be part of the Latino community.

Since this is a TLD meant for the latinos, we seek to offer the possibility of being able to register Internet domain names that reinforce the latin identity. With the .LAT, the users of the net will find it easier to locate sites and people they are familiar with. The latinos can be present with an identity that enables them to identify with their roots, tell the world who they are and where they come from. They could expect that a website or service under a .LAT will contain elements they are familiar with, or that they will be directed in a manner that enables easy access.

As part of the marketing and brand positioning efforts, we will seek agreements with the largest possible amount of ICANN Accredited Registrars (NIC Mexico currently works directly with some of the biggest ones). At the same time we will promote the Accreditation of Registrars that are latin companies. By promoting the accreditation of increasing numbers of latin companies, we can also enhance the offer of services from the other TLDs (existing or new), thus promoting the entire category

At the same time, moved by domain name market growth among latinos, we could expect more and more companies looking into offering services over the internet within that market, promoting investment and economic growth. Nevertheless, market growth comes along with the necessity of providing increased security standards and abuse prevention practices altogether with rights protection mechanisms.

With this in mind, .LAT registry will look to engage with a latin organization that could become a regional dispute resolution provider. This will enhance the capabilities in the region to attend the problems related to trademark infringement and other domain use related abuses. In addition, it might drive experience to other TLDs in the region that do not have access to the UDRP (and URS) mechanisms and also catch the attention of other relevant actors in the latin community that could participate in such project.

IV. PROVIDE A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICANT’S INTENDED REGISTRATION POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF THE GOALS LISTED ABOVE.

.LAT REGISTRATION POLICIES

.LAT is a self-explanatory TLD, highly recognizable and primarily associated with latinos all over the world. .LAT will be a standard, general purpose TLD so there will be no registration restrictions other than the ones being imposed by ICANN in the Guidebook and the Consensus Policies.

.LAT will only accept domain names requests from ICANN Accredited Registrars. Furthermore, .LAT has a strong commitment to develop the latino domain name market and will engage with latino registrars to help them become ICANN accredited so they can participate of market development and contribute to market growth.

REGISTRATION OF DOMAIN NAMES

By receiving and accepting a domain registration request .LAT Registry recognizes the right of the Registrant to the use and enjoyment of a Domain Name during the registration period. This does not imply the transfer and⁄or granting of any ownership rights.

By registering a domain name, the registrant accepts, to the best of its knowledge, that the domain name being registered or its intended use does not infringe legal rights of third parties and further, that the domain name is not registered to be used for unlawful purposes.

The registrant accepts that by registering a domain name accepts to adhere and honor the resolutions rendered by the UDRP and URS evaluation panels as defined by ICANN. Also, the registrant accepts to adhere and honor the resolutions of the ʺRegional Anti-Abuse Centerʺ should it is created.

ALLOWED DOMAINS:

.LAT will accept domain name registration at the second level only, and the registered names must comply with ICANN policies and all applicable RFCs, like 1034, 1035, and others.

NAME RULES

* The total length of a domain name must not exceed 63 characters to the left of the .LAT label.
* Allowed characters are numbers “0” to “9”, hyphen “-“, and all letters from “a” to “z”
* Domain names must not contain only numbers and must not begin or end with hyphen, or contain two hyphen characters put together.
* Domain names included in the reserved names schedule defined by ICANN will not be registered.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

As part of the registration process, the registrant is required to provide certain information through the Registrar and to update it promptly as soon as such information changes so that the registry records remain current, complete and accurate. The information that must be provided corresponds to:

* The name, postal address, e-mail address, and voice and fax (if available) telephone numbers of the registrant for the domain name;
* The name, postal address, e-mail address, and voice and fax (if available) telephone numbers of the administrative, billing and technical contact for the domain name;

The maximum validity period of the Domain Name registration is 10 years, according to the Registry Agreement.

IDN REGISTRATION

IDN registration will be provided in Spanish language.

* Allowed characters are numbers “0” to “9”, hyphen “-“, all letters from “a” to “z” and the following special characters from Spanish language: á, é, í, ó, ú, ü, ñ.

When registering an IDN there will be an extra availability check for an equivalent name. To construct the equivalent name first hyphens will be removed, and then all special characters will be replaced with the corresponding characters without the accent mark or in the case of “ñ” for “n”. IDN registration will not be permitted if there is an equivalent domain name in the database for a different registrant.

Any change or update to these Policies will be published with a notice of at least 15 days before going into effect.

RIGHTS PROTECTION MECHANISMS AND ABUSE PREVENTION

.LAT will implement Rights Protection Mechanisms including UDRP and URS. IP Claims service will be available for 60 days following the launch of the TLD.

A searchable whois will be provided as an extended service for clients in need of such feature like intellectual property owners and firms. This service would help them to identify and contact potential infringers.

The Sunrise period and the use of UDRP and URS, together with the IP Claims service should be sufficient to prevent any abuses in registration as all those mechanisms have been streamlined as a result of the work carried out by ICANN as part of the New gTLDs Program. In addition .LAT registry will be open to requests and suggestions from the community and will adopt any new policy on registration abuse as published by ICANN.

There will be an abuse contact who will accept reports on abuses and bad use of the domain names under the .LAT TLD.

V. WILL YOUR PROPOSED GTLD IMPOSE ANY MEASURES FOR PROTECTING THE PRIVACY OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION OF REGISTRANTS OR USERS? IF SO, PLEASE DESCRIBE ANY SUCH MEASURES.

.LAT Registry will take every effort needed to balance the need for privacy with the need to provide access to records that contain information on the registrant and contacts of domain names in order to maintain security and stability of the DNS. .LAT registry will operate an accurate public WHOIS service in a way that is compatible with applicable privacy laws. .LAT will request from registrants the minimal set of information needed to perform the whois functions as required by ICANN.

.LAT registry will require registrars to post privacy policies and data practices that clearly communicate to registrants the type of data that will be collected and managed by the .LAT Registry and the use of such data to perform registry functions, specially the WHOIS service. Those policies and data practices will also include the rights of the registrants to access and correct data stored in the .LAT Registry database. The submission of a domain registration request made will imply consent from the registrar and the registrant of .LAT Registry’s data practices.

.LAT will allow registrars to offer data privacy services like proxy services, but will include the corresponding covenants for registrars to disclose information of domain name registrants upon request from authorities relevant to the .LAT Registry.

More detail will be provided in the description of registry services.

VI. DESCRIBE WHETHER AND IN WHAT WAYS OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS WILL HELP TO ACHIEVE YOUR PROJECTED BENEFITS.

The availability of a TLD clearly related to latinos provides internet users all over the world a great opportunity to target a latin audience or, on the other side, gives latin companies and individuals the opportunity to get internet presence with latin identity. .LAT could be of great help to enhance any branding strategies for the latino market . The self-explanatory nature of the TLD could clearly facilitate its use over the internet among the targeted audience.

The .LAT will serve latino market interests, by providing the means to implement differentiated commercialization and marketing strategies, tailored for the latin market.

.LAT outreach and communication efforts will focus first on its own brand building and positioning in developed markets, and then .LAT will look into developing the market in less developed areas by promoting and facilitating the use of .LAT domain names to get Internet presence with latin identity.

eCOM-LAC is uniquely positioned to promote the .LAT domain. Some of its members, such as chambers of commerce, want to promote the domain to their members, since this is seen as an opportunity to offer latino entities, companies, businesses and professionals a specific highly recognizable domain, whereas when the Internet became available for public use, registration in the .COM space was almost a default option for a registrant seeking a non-territorial domain name. The partnership of two entities such as eCOM-LAC and NIC Mexico, together with the potential of the hundreds of companies that belong to eCOM-LAC member organizations, compose a considerable launching force.

BRAND BUILDING AND POSITIONING

.LAT Registry will implement an outreach and communication program to inform of the availability of the new TLD to create awareness and achieve positioning. The program will focus first on certain cities with the highest concentration of latin internet users. Some of the cities considered for this program are: Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Santiago, Mexico City, Chicago and New York.

The strategies consider partnering with relevant local organizations and individuals that can help in putting the word out for .LAT, for example: get feature articles on local newspapers, share information on the project with local bloggers, news shows appearances and interviews and also sponsoring of local internet related events, among other things. We are also considering for this first phase to include some urban advertising like panoramic ads, public buses and bus stops, and the subway system.

The brand building efforts will also include arrangements with some of the brands on the top of mind of consumers to use .LAT domain names on their advertising for the latin market, specially brands that have specially focused campaigns and distribution channels for latin consumers. In general, we’ll try to reach organizations that could have a positive impact in the TLD’s positioning.

.LAT will look for sponsoring opportunities on industry related events, to seize the opportunity to spread the word about .LAT and talk to industry protagonists and opinion leaders to find a way to aggregate efforts to promote the use of .LAT domain names.

In order to facilitate the adoption of the TLD, it’ll be necessary to develop the distribution channel, so .LAT will engage with latin registrars, most of them resellers, to help them get ICANN accredited whenever possible and convenient. On the same track, .LAT registry will work with accredited registrars that have a special interest on the latin market to invite them to carry the TLD, and develop or improve their reseller program to promote the entrance of new latin resellers and in that way, all work together to offer registrants TLD services on their own language.

.LAT will also develop a Discovery Program, oriented to early adopters that commit to invest in advertising for their projects and use a .LAT domain name. There will be an RFP that’ll focus on innovation; outreach and participation to ask for projects that will make an outstanding and innovative use of the desired .LAT domain name. We’ll try to find those projects that foster integration and creation of on-line communities to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship over the internet with latin identity.

Special consideration will be given to Social Networks; .LAT registry will conduct a highly specialized outreach campaign over Twitter and Facebook. Specialized consulting will be retained to design and conduct these campaigns to maximize the results.

MARKET DEVELOPMENT

The market development efforts will try to promote the use and recognition of .LAT domain names within latin individuals and institutions. These efforts will be oriented to create awareness and gain visibility of the new gTLD. The market development work will focus on:

* Establish the .LAT gTLD as a domain recognized for it’s global reach, but which emphasizes its presence in the latino market. This will provide an Internet domain with global recognition and coverage, but with a special focus on the latino market, targeted to satisfy the needs of the latino community in the Internet.
* A global focus. The .LAT will provide a specialized space to those global entities seeking to establish a presence in the latino community (for example, multinational companies).
* Become a reference point for the latino community vis-a-vis diverse private entities. Under this gTLD, the amount of domains, and the amount and quality of specialized third party contents, (with a global, regional or national coverage) targeted to the latino consumer, will thus be able to address them in their own language, and including references to their tastes and consumer preferences.
* Become a reference framework for events and organisms targeted to latinos. The .LAT will seek to become the official Internet platform for the diverse entities and events (public, private and civil society) interested in outreach to and from the latino community on the Internet.
* Support the growth of national companies in a multi-national environment. The .LAT will add value to the companies, because of its identification with the latino market, and due to its success in the marketing and sales of its products and services in this market. The .LAT domain will enable greater leverage to an Internet presence as a growth platform, making it increasingly attractive as an opportunity to reach a specific market, independently of its geographical distribution.

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