gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.LLC	Dot Registry LLC	hotmail.com	View

DOT Registry plans to serve the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies. Members of the community are defined as businesses registered as limited liability companies with the United States or its territories. Limited Liability Companies or (LLC’s) as they are commonly abbreviated, represent one of the most popular business entity structures in the US. LLCʹs commonly participate in acts of commerce, public services, and product creation.

Limited Liability Companies (LLC) are a relatively new business structure for the United States, the first LLC was validated in the state of Wyoming in 1977 and in 1996 the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws adopted the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act; providing for both the definition of an LLC and the governmental standards under which an LLC may be formed. It was through the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act that a standard set of policies were created to define, validate, and monitor the operations of LLC’s, thus creating a unique and accountable business community in the United States.

An LLC is defined as a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions. LLC’s are a unique entity type because they are considered a hybrid, having certain characteristics of both a corporation and a partnership or sole proprietorship. LLC’s are closely related to corporations in the sense that they participate in similar activities and provide limited liability to their partners. Additionally, LLC’s share a key characteristic with partnerships through the availability of pass-through income taxation. LLC’s are a more flexibile entity type than a corporation and are often well suited for businesses owned by a single owner.

Common advantages to forming an LLC include:

1) Flexibility in tax reporting, LLC’s may choose if they would like to be taxed as a sole proprietorship, partnership, S Corporation, or C Corporation. This is the only business entity form in the United States that allows for taxation flexibility.
2) LLC’s have much less administrative paperwork and reporting requirements then corporations.
3) Unless the LLC elects to be taxed as a C Corp, LLC’s enjoy pass through taxation.
4) Limited liability, meaning that owners of an LLC, called “members” are protected from some or all liability acts and debts of the LLC.

LLC’s have become increasingly popular in the United States because their formation provides owners with the protection of a corporation and the flexibility of a partnership.

With the number of registered LLC’s in the United States totaling over five million in 2010 (as reported by the International Association of Commercial Administrators) it is hard for the average consumer to not conduct business with an LLC (popular LLC’s in the United States include: AOL and BMW). Through the creation of DOT Registry’s .LLC string, consumers can quickly validate that they are working with a member of the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies, providing consumers with brand reassurance and peace of mind. DOT Registry believes that it is essential to identify limited liability companies online in order to expand on their creditability and further highlight their privilege to conduct business in the US. Proper representation of this community would allow consumers to make educated choices in choosing businesses to patronize and support.
LLCʹs can be formed through any jurisdiction of the United States. Therefore members of this community exist in all 50 US states and its territories. LLC formation guidelines are dictated by state law and can vary based on each state’s regulations. Persons form an LLC by filing required documents with the appropriate state authority, usually the Secretary of State. Most states require the filing of Articles of Organization. These are considered public documents and are similar to articles of incorporation, which establish a corporation as a legal entity. At minimum, the articles of organization give a brief description of the intended business purposes, the registered agent, and registered business address.
LLC’s are expected to conduct business in conjunction with the policies of the state in which they are formed, and the Secretary of State periodically evaluates a LLC’s level of good standing based on their commercial interactions with both the state and consumers. DOT Registry or its designated agents would verify membership to the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies by collecting data on each Registrant and cross-referencing the information with their applicable registration state. In order to maintain the reputation of the “.LLC” string and accurately delineate the member to consumers, Registrants would only be awarded a domain that accurately represents their registered legal business name. Additionally, DOT Registry will not allow blind registrations or registration by proxy, therefore DOT Registry’s WHOIS service will tie directly back to each member’s state registration information and will be publicly available in order to provide complete transparency for consumers.
Entities are required to comply with formation practices in order to receive the right to conduct business in the US. Once formed an LLC must be properly maintained. LLC’s are expected to comply with state regulations, submit annual filings, and pay specific taxes and fees. Should an LLC fail to comply with state statutes it could result in involuntary dissolution by the state in addition to imposed penalties, taxes and fees.
While state statutes vary, the majority of states have adopted the following guidelines in regards to the formation of LLC’s:

(1) The name of each limited liability company must contain the words ʺLimited Liability Companyʺ or the abbreviation ʺL.L.C.ʺ or the designation ʺLLCʺ.

(2) In order to form a limited liability company, one or more authorized persons must execute the Articles of Organization. Which shall contain: the name of the limited liability company; the address of the registered office and the name and address of the registered agent for service of process required to be maintained; and any other matters the members determine to include therein.
(3) A Limited Liability Company may be organized to conduct or promote any lawful business or purposes, except as may otherwise be provided by the Constitution or other law of this State.
All entities bearing the abbreviation LLC in their business name create the assumption that they have been awarded the privileges associated to that title such as: the ability to conduct commerce transactions within US borders or territories, the ability to market products, solicit consumers and provide reputable services in exchange for monetary values, and finally to provide jobs or employment incentives to other citizens.
Membership in the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies is established through your business entity registration. In order to maintain your membership to this community you must remain an “Active” member of the community. Active” in this context can be defined as any LLC registered with a Secretary of State in the United States and its territories, that is determined to be authorized to conduct business within that State at the time of their registration. Registrant’s “Active” status will be verified on an annual basis as described above in question 18 in order to ensure the reputation and validity of the “.LLC” gTLD.
Since LLC’s are not currently delineated on the Internet, the creation of this string would mark a unique advancement in consumer security and confidence in the United States. Essentially, this will create the first ever, clear delineator for the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.eus	Puntueus Fundazioa	puntueus.org	View

The .eus TLD will serve the needs of the Basque linguistic and cultural community on the Internet. The community consists of those who use (or commit to use) the Basque language for their online communications, and⁄or promote the different aspects of Basque culture online, and⁄or intend to specifically address their online communications and services to that community.. Eus is the contraction of “Euskara”, which means “basque language” in Basque.

Registrations under the .eus TLD are restricted to bona-fide members of the Basque linguistic and cultural community, and subject to the further requirement that the registrant’s actions in the .eus TLD, as well as the registrant’s use of the registered domain name, must be:

(i) generally accepted as legitimate; and

(ii) beneficial to the cause and the values of the Basque linguistic and cultural community; and

(iii) commensurate with the role and importance of the registered  domain name; and

(iv) in good faith at the time of registration and thereafter.

Puntueus FUNDAZIOA
 
 Puntueus Fundazioa (foundation) is the organization applying for the .eus TLD. It was established in March 6th 2012 by Puntueus Elkartea (association).

Puntueus Elkartea (the association)  has been since its inception in 2008 raising awareness about the .eus TLD project, and taking care of the outreach efforts that have gathered the endorsement and involvement of more than 50 of the most relevant entities of the Basque linguistic and cultural community,

While it has been considered that the foundation legal type is the more adequate to set up the .eus Registry, Puntueus Elkartea will assist and support the foundation to accomplish any social aspects of the initiative, including outreach and awareness.

Answers to enumerated question points:

a) i. How the community is delineated from Internet users generally. Such descriptions may include, but are not limited to, the following: membership, registration, or licensing processes, operation in a particular industry, use of a language.

Being the objective of  the .eus TLD  to serve the Basque linguistic and cultural community, and to contribute to the promotion of the Basque information society sphere, the community is defined by those Internet content creators and end users using online communications in Basque or related to the Basque culture.

a) ii. How the community is structured and organized. For a community consisting of an alliance of groups, details about the constituent parts are required.

Puntueus Fundazioa has been established for the purpose of creating and managing the .eus TLD. To that purpose, a structure that represents a wide array of Institutions from every area of the Basque society, and gathered the support of the most relevant Institutions related to the Basque cultural, technologic, media  professional and Civil Society sectors has been created. Puntueus Fundazioa, therefore, represents a community established centuries ago, with a longstanding existence and consolidated  cultural heritage, organized throughout the centuries in many different layers of political, administrative, academic, commercial, cultural and social layers, that exceed by far the scope of this question.


a) iii. When the community was established, including the date(s) of formal organization, if any, as well as a description of community activities to date.

The Basque language, Euskara, has always awakened the interest of the linguists. In addition to being a language of unknown origin, it is comprised of various dialects and multiple variants which have represented a problem for writers. What language should be chosen in order to reach the greatest number of people?

Therefore, the “Euskalkis” (Basque dialects) are the variants of Euskara (the Basque language). According to the current classification, there are six dialects: Biscayan, Guipuzcoan, Labortan, Souletin, High Navarran and Low Navarran.

In view of this, the need arose to regularise a unified Basque language complement of the dialects. The “Euskara batua” (unified Basque language) arose in the year 1968 (created by the official academy of the Basque Language, Euskaltzaindia, founding member of both the Puntueus Asociación and Fundazioa) and since that time it has tried to be positioned as an element above the Basque dialects, having been converted at the same time into a communication powerful tool of the Basques.

With the passing of time, unified Basque language has increasingly acquired more importance in education, the media and the Administration. The dialects are still used among the population. Therefore, unified Basque language and the Basque dialects complement each other. The Basque Country has a strong presence on the Internet, that the  .eus TLD will reinforce and promote.

a) iv. The current estimated size of the community, both as to membership and geographic extent.))

In accordance with the data from the Sociolinguistic Survey of the Basque Government carried out in 2001, the Basque language has 800,000 speakers and the current figures of Basque speakers are shown below by territories:
In Navarre, 10.3% of the inhabitants are bilingual; 6.6% are passive bilingual and 83.1% are Spanish-speaking monolingual.
In Gipuzkoa, 48% of the inhabitants over 15 years of age are bilingual, 9.5% are passive bilingual and 42.6% are Spanish-speaking monolingual.
In Alava, 75.5% of the population are monolingual Spanish speakers, 13.4% bilingual and 11.1% are passive bilingual.
In Biscay the monolingual Spanish-speaking inhabitants make up 64.9%, the bilingual inhabitants make up 22.4% and 12.6% are passive bilingual.
In the northern Basque Country one of every four inhabitants is bilingual, one of every ten is passive bilingual and the remaining two-thirds are French-speaking monolingual.

Beyond the speakers, the main geographical core of the Basque language and culture covers almost 3 million people. With reference to other countries, the diaspora is very important for the maintenance and development of the Basque linguistic and cultural community. Currently it is estimated that there is a population of 4.5 million people from Basque descent distributed all over the world.

There are nearly 200 Basque Cultural Club distributed throughout the world. The principal objective of these Basque clubs is to maintain the Basque traditions and heritage, including language and culture, and for this reason they organise different activities. Of these 200, 77 are in Argentina, 36 in the United States,10 in Spain, 3 in Brussels and 1 in Shanghai, just to mention some. Therefore, the target community of the .eus TLD is spread throughout the world.

Education has been a fundamental pillar in the development of the Basque linguistic and cultural community. The first book in Basque language was published in the year 1545, ʹLinguae Vasconum Primitiaeʹ written by Bernart Etxepare. As for the press, only one newspaper is published entirely in Basque language: Berria. There are 4 or 5 other bilingual newspapers that are published in Basque language and Spanish or French.More than 20 radio stations, small and large, transmit in Basque language, and there is also availabe a mobile application for listening to most of them.

The Basque language has also become immersed in information and knowledge. The Wikipedia in Basque language has nearly 125,000 entries. In relative percentages, the Basque language is found in the top positions, since it has more pages per speaker. There is no problem to having our computer completely in Basque language. For the large companies such as Microsoft and Google, the Basque language already exists. Google offers nearly all its services also in Basque language and has a translation service. Microsoft, thanks to the agreements reached with the local governments, publishes version of the operating system in Basque language.