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
.insurance	fTLD Registry Services LLC	fsround.org	View

The U.S. insurance community is a clearly delineated industry that has evolved over hundreds of years into a
critical commercial enterprise within the global economy. While fTLD Registry Services, LLC’s (FRS) members are
based and regulated in the United States, the growth, reach and impact of the larger insurance services community is
global. Due to the common characteristics that define the insurance community, it is a logical candidate for
identification as a community under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) guidelines.
Further, since FRS was requested by members of this well-defined community to apply for and operate the .insurance
gTLD for the community’s benefit, FRS’ .insurance gTLD is well positioned to serve the community and apply a
straightforward approach to approve its potential registrants.

The community is defined under the subheads below.

• 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.

The insurance community is composed of a specialized group of individuals and commercial entities including, but not limited to corporations dedicated to providing insurance services. Nearly all Internet users purchase products or
participate in programs through this community of providers.

The regulatory framework for the U.S. insurance industry has evolved over the past two centuries with a trend toward
consistent regulations among states with increased federal oversight. Each insurance company is subject to all
applicable state regulations within the states it chooses to operate and must remain in compliance with them in
order to maintain the authority to offer insurance products in that state. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 1944
in U.S. v. South-Eastern Underwriters Association made the insurance industry subject to the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Since then, Federal regulation of the community has grown.

This framework is critical to understanding the insurance community. The existing framework provides clear lines for
defining the community. Further, FRS’ knowledge of and relationships within the insurance services industry, as
outlined below, will support it in providing a successful mechanism to approve solely those entities that belong
within this community. The .insurance gTLD will be built to accommodate any shifts in the insurance community due to changes in regulations or laws. Only, those entities that maintain .insurance gTLD registration restrictions will be
eligible to join. Those that leave the insurance community and no longer meet .insurance gTLD membership standards will be subject to domain name forfeiture if they are unable to remain in good standing.

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

There are many complexities in the insurance industry. Among them are the structure and organization of the
industry, which depends largely upon the size of the company and the types of insurance the company has the state
authority to offer. Major U.S. insurance companies often reside within a holding company structure typically owned
by multiple admitted and surplus insurers, and at times also own excess insurers and reinsurers. Insurance holding
companies also differ as to how various business functions are divided among subsidiaries or outsourced to third
parties. In addition to the size of insurance companies, the community consists of two major components – the
insurance companies themselves and the agents and brokers (also known in the industry as “producers”) who interface with consumers to sell insurance products and services. Some of these agents and brokers are independent and sell the insurance products of multiple insurance companies and some are affiliates of a single insurance company and sell only the products of that agency. Agents and brokers must be state licensed in order to sell product and, therefore, represent a readily identifiable and distinguishable group.

Type of insurance policy is another way the community is organized. There are many variations of insurance on the
market. As a rule, they can be categorized under the following types:

For individuals, the market includes Vehicle Insurance (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, and boat
insurance), Property Insurance (e.g., homeowners, renters, personal umbrella liability, and flood insurance), Life
Insurance (e.g., term life, whole life, and universal life insurance), and Specialty Insurance (e.g., Accident
Medical, General Liability, Travel Services, Farm Insurance, Identity Theft Coverage).

For businesses, the market includes General Business Coverage (e.g., business owners policy, general liability,
crime insurance, commercial auto, business property, surety and other bonds, business interruption), Employee
Benefits (e.g., Group benefit offerings, employee retention, participant accident medical, retirement plans,
business travel insurance) and Agribusiness (e.g., farm and ranch insurance, commercial agribusiness coverage,
insurance risk management).

• 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 history of the insurance industry in the United States goes back nearly three hundred (300) years to 1732 when
an insurance company that underwrote fire insurance was founded in Charleston, South Carolina. The evolution of the
industry and its regulatory framework is articulated above. Originally, the insurance community was dominated by
small, local, single-line mutual companies and member societies. However, a significant change in the community
occurred in the 1950s, when laws began to permit multi-line charters. Increasingly, the community began to feature
multi-line, multi-state and even multi-national insurance conglomerates and holding companies.

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

The .insurance gTLD will be operated by FRS on behalf of the U.S. insurance industry. This includes 3,750 companies (according to a 2010 report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners) and 2,250,000 agents and brokers (according to a 2010 report by the National Insurance Producer Registry). It also includes over 233 state insurance associations and 52 other types of insurance-related associations. The 2010 statistics were the most currently available information with FRS prepared its application.