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
.sport	SportAccord	sportaccord.com	View

Q20a Community Served

20.a.0 Name and Description

The .sport TLD serves the Sport community, which is defined at the highest level for the purposes of this application as being primarily represented through International, Regional and National Sports Federations. The potential community of individuals and organizations that associate themselves with sports is much broader, therefore SportAccord has engaged the International Sports Federations and the International Olympic Committee to comprise a Policy Advisory Board (PAB) to assist in deciding how best to responsible expand the universe of potential registrants in the .SPORT gTLD.

Sport is defined as activity by individuals or teams of individuals, aiming at healthy exertion, improvement in performance, perfection of skill, fair competition and desirable shared experience between practitioners as well as organizers, supporters and audience.

Under the policy principles of the .sport TLD, membership in the Sport community is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the right to hold a given domain name ending in .sport. The .sport TLD and any domain under it must be used in the interest of the entire Sport community.

Registrations under .sport are restricted to bona-fide members of the Sport community and subject to the further requirement that the registrant’s role in the Sport community, 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 Sport; 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.

Furthermore, registrants in .sport must be recognized performers, organizers, promoters or supporters of federated Sport, or belong to categories of registrants recognized by the .sport Policy Advisory Board (PAB).

The Sport community’s organizational efforts for the present .sport TLD application and the subsequent operation of the TLD are built upon the community’s existing organizational structures, capabilities and principles.

As a global association of International Sports Federations, SportAccord will take the operational responsibility for .sport in line with SportAccord’s existing coordinating or facilitating functions in many sport-related areas.

In order to achieve as broad and inclusive representation of all Sport community stakeholders as possible, policy development for the .sport Internet TLD will be based upon advice provided by a Policy Advisory Board (PA B) specifically established for this purpose. The PAB will provide policy advice for .sport regarding eligibility, name selection, acceptable use, compliance enforcement on the basis of the .sport Policy Principles described under (A) above.

The key point is participation in, or organization of, sports activities. This means that membership in the Sport community is based on the respective person or entity’s will and actions. The .sport TLD is restricted to bona fide members of the Sport community. However, as described in the Policy Principles, being a member of the Sport community does not in itself convey a right to register a .sport domain name. Furthermore, beyond the question of eligibility, there are community-based conditions of content and use.

The PAB includes representatives from International Sports Federations and other sport stakeholders. It is also open to the participation of interested parties not represented by SportAccord.

20.a.1 Delineation

The Sport community relates to organizers, performers, sponsors and viewers of sport.

The wish to hold a .sport domain name is not in itself a sufficient indication of a bona fide membership of the sport community.

Furthermore, if a person has been able to register a domain name in .sport, this does not in itself entitle that person to register any other imaginable .sport domain name.

20.a.2 Organization

The Sport community is finely structured and strongly organized. It stands as a key example of the bottom-up organizational paradigm, achieving local and worldwide organizational structures in most sports disciplines. The sport community organizes itself naturally and spontaneously by discipline, between disciplines and between different forms of community participation. The organization of the Sport community is not driven by central command, but rather based on voluntary integration.

Within sport disciplines, the Sport community mostly has voluntary hierarchical structures with amateurs and professional individuals organized in clubs; clubs being grouped into leagues and national federations, national federations being grouped in regional and International Sports Federations.

Sports governing bodies are essential components of the organization of the Sports community. They include International Federations (IFs), Regional and National federations or leagues for most sports disciplines. Many clubs and schools also play a governing body role, often involving more than one sport discipline. Shared organizational resources across sports disciplines exist on the national, regional and global levels, addressing common goals and concerns. (Examples are shared sport infrastructure and events, shared communications infrastructure, shared terminology and shared values.)

On an international level, Sports governing bodies collaborate through global associations of International Sport Federations (such as SportAccord), the organizations of the Olympic Movement and well as special-purpose bodies for specific shared concerns.

Institutions such as IOC (International Olympic Committee), ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations), AIWOF (Association of International Winter Olympic Federations) and ARISF (Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations) unite and support some or all of the International Federations.

SportAccord is the widest representative body, with 90 International Federations (both Olympic and non Olympic) and 15 associated members (such as International Federation of University Sports, Commonwealth Games).

20.a.3 Community Establishment

The sport has existed as a cause and as an organized community as long has humanity. The strength of the sport global community is exemplified by the fact that even though sport often related to military disciplines, it was possible for enemies to compete in sport events.

The Sport community has always been a link between cultures. Its activities and organizational structures have naturally evolved over time and continue to evolve. The constant evolution of the values of Sport towards an ever greater respect for life, human dignity and diversity demonstrates the timeless nature of the Sport community.

Overall, the quest for improvement (illustrated but not constrained by the motto “citius, altius, fortius” – “faster, higher, stronger”) has always been common to all members of the sport community.

As the organization of Sport is voluntary and natural, there are many community organizations. SportAccord is one of the key a global community institution of the Sport community.

20.a.4. Size of Community

The Sport community is present in all countries and cultures of the world. Its formal organizational structures involve:
- over 100 International Federations
- 15,000 National Federations
- 5 million sport clubs
- Tens or hundreds of million athletes, depending on the definitions.