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
.art	Dadotart, Inc.	deviantart.com	View

Dadotart is committed to serving the arts community, through the creation and operation of the .ART gTLD.
In its simplest definition the arts community is comprised of individuals, groups of individuals and legal entities who identify themselves with the Arts and actively participate in or support Art activities or the organization of Art activities.
The international arts community is diverse and wide-spread, but it is nonetheless a community joined by the output of artists and the support and affinity of its organized members, audiences, institutions and consumers. Indeed, most communities are identified in this way. Sport communities are a well-known example. Participation and self-identification delineate communities as diverse as car enthusiasts, mountain climbers and practitioners of yoga. The experience of deviantArt shows that that an arts community of more than twenty million will not only identify itself online, but will produce and upload more than 140,000 unique art objects every day.
The Art community is also based on common values shared by its members. While all artistic activity is related to a line of cultural and artistic history, the respect of ownership and authenticity of an artwork are core values of the Art community. The community values also include openness of mind, critical reflection as well as commitment to the integrity in freedom of expression, in both content and means. Artistic activity, the striving for artistic mastery, is an aim for its own ends, nurturing the aesthetic aspect of human nature.

The .ART gTLD is therefore defined and readily identifiable by the actions of its members, with members at all levels sharing interests, aims and commitments to producing and enjoying art of all types.

The .ART gTLD will be directed to and by the Art community through their participation as registrants and in the Policy Advisory Board (“PAB”).

The arts community is a community of production, support and affinity, and its policies of member definition would be incomplete if they did not hold requirements for participation and support not just for name registration eligibility but also for name use. Use of a name in artistic production, support and affinity represents ongoing evidence of community eligibility. The following four statements describe the features of community definition combined with community participation through use of a .ART domain name.

(1) Definition—The Art community is comprised of individuals, groups of individuals and legal entities who identify themselves with the Arts and actively participate in or support Art activities or the organization of Art activities.
(2) Registration of .ART domains: Qualifying factors—The registration of domain names under the .ART gTLD will be restricted to bona-fide members of the Art community and is subject to the further requirement that the registrant’s participation or support in the Art community arena and the registrant’s use of the domain name must be:
a. Generally accepted as legitimate;
b. Of a nature that demonstrates the registrant’s membership in the Art community; and
c. Conducted in good faith at the time of registration and thereafter.
(3) Policy Authority—Dadotart will act as the coordinating body of the members and representative organizations for the Art community with respect to the .ART gTLD in consultation with the stakeholders of the Art community and their representative organizations.
(4) Policy Advisory Board—In order to achieve as broad and inclusive a representation of all Art community stakeholders as possible, policy development of the .ART gTLD will be based upon advice provided by the .ART Policy Advisory Board (“PAB”) The PAB will be specifically established for this purpose. The PAB will include members of Dadotart as well as representatives of the various international community stakeholder groups, cultural organizations and will also involve participation of interested artists who might not necessarily be represented by established community organizations.

• How the community is delineated from Internet users generally.

The global arts community has hallmarks of identification and commonality that set it apart from these Internet users. These hallmarks include:
(1) Identification through production, support and affinity
(2) Continued participation
(3) Shared action and participation around numerous traditions, genres and styles.


1. Membership Identification
The first question any community faces is, can its members be identified? The most common way to identify a community is to look at the actions of its potential members. The arts community is one of these natural communities. It is not defined by holding a license or by creation by a regulatory body or necessarily by membership in an established association or organization. It is a community of participation.

The term “art” describes a diverse range of creative human activities and the products of those activities, but is most often understood to refer to painting, film, photography, sculpture, and other visual media. Music, theatre, dance, literature, and interactive media are included in a broader definition of “art” or “the arts”. In our formulation, the arts community is comprised of individuals, groups of individuals and legal entities who identify themselves with the Arts and actively participate in or support Art activities or the organization of Art activities.

Dadotart and its PAB will have no trouble identifying its members. The definition we have formulated is that the Art community is comprised of individuals, groups of individuals and legal entities who identify themselves with the Arts and actively participate in or support Art activities or the organization of Art activities.

2. Continued Participation
Continued participation through name use rules will be a requirement of the .ART gTLD, acting as a further assurance that community members alone hold .ART domain names.

3. Shared Action and Participation
At the time of registration, eligibility will be shown in part by the way in which the potential registrant shares in the actions around traditions, practices, genres and styles identified with the art community. Everyone knows that action as a fan of baseball is not evidence that a person is part of the arts community. Actively writing, painting or sculpting (or supporting these activities) is.

• How the community is structured and organized.

The arts community is very loosely structured and organized for the most part simply around participation - - and by virtue of participation. Certainly, there are organized groups within the arts community but the vast majority of artists and participants in the arts are not structured and are not formally organized in a hierarchical manner of local⁄regional, national and international legal entities. In many ways the strength of the art community lies in its natural openness. The .ART gTLD will provide a globally available locus of communication and identification for the many millions of arts participants who are not organized as well as for those who are.

• When the community was established,

The Art community has existed as long people have produced and shared art.

• The current estimated size of the community

The global arts community at large is constantly growing and embraces the majority of the world’s population in one way or another.

As production and enjoyment of art lie within the human nature, the arts community has a global presence in every culture.