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
.bzh	Association www.bzh	afnic.fr	View

= Provide the name and full description of the community that the applicant is committing to serve. =

The proposed gTLD .bzh refers to the Breton community defined as all the people who feel attached to Brittany, its culture and its languages and who wish to display this attachment by using a specific domain name.
Indeed, the BZH string refers primarily to a geographical area, Brittany, its culture and its languages since BZH derives from the Breton word Breizh which means Brittany.
All those present in this reference territory are legitimate members of the community, for instance individuals with a residence in Brittany, organization with either its headquarters or an office in Brittany.
The abbreviation BZH is also a marker of a cultural and linguistic identity. People who refer to this culture (based on UNESCO’s definition: ʹculture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs’) or to the languages of Brittany (Breton, Gallo) are members of the community.

Attachment to Brittany, its culture and its languages (i.e. community membership) can then result from
* A geographical residence (physical address, headquarters or office) in Brittany
* Any expression or reference to the Breton culture according to UNESCO culture’s definition
* Any practice of or reference to the languages of Brittany

Furthermore, registration implies compliance with a fair use that only allows a use harmless to the image of Brittany and the community. Non-compliance will result in suspension or termination of the domain name.
This fair use will be based among other things on notions such as legitimate interest and bona fide for registration (and renewal) of domain names, that the registrant must be able to justify in case of a challenge related to the domain name use.

= How the community is delineated from Internet users generally. =

The Breton community refers to a specific territory, culture and languages (A) that are reflected in particular on the internet (B).

A) The Breton community refers to the territory of Brittany which is historically spread over five French ‘départements’: Côtes d’Armor, Finistère, Loire-Atlantique, Morbihan and Ille-et-Vilaine.

The Breton community has a strong and specific cultural and linguistic identity.
The Breton language (brezhoneg in Breton) is one of the six Celtic languages still spoken in Europe. It is the Celtic language with the third largest number of speakers. The number of active speakers is estimated to be close to 200,000 in Brittany and close to 16,000 in Paris region. The total number of Breton speakers, including occasional speakers and those who understand without speaking, could be around 500,000.
Gallo, the second language of Brittany, is part of the langues d’oil languages - as is French. The French National Institute for Statistics estimated this figure the number of regular speakers at 28,300, whereas other studies (UNESCO) evaluated the number at 200,000.

Brittany develops also a rich and original culture in terms of :
* music. Brittany is the 1st French region for the number of festivals, 2nd region for the production of music records. There is a lively practice of traditional music with bands known as bagadoù and traditional song (kan ha diskan, gwerz, …).
* dance. Traditional fetes called ʺFest-nozʺ involving various folk dances in line or pairs. Amateur dancing in Brittany is structured through confederations (13,000 members of 160 Celtic dance circles).
* architectural heritage. With over 2900 protected monuments, Brittany classes as the French region with the second richest architectural heritage.
* gastronomy. The traditional pancakes ʺcrêpesʺ and ʺgalettesʺ or pastries such as the ‘far Breton’, the ‘kouign amann’ (butter pastry) are part of Brittany’s culinary heritage.

B) The importance of this attachment to Brittany, its culture and its language is reflected in the media, particularly on the Internet. Breton diaspora was largely organized on the web through websites and social networks. Events (Cyber Fest Noz) are held around the world to gather the Breton community online.
Members of the community using internet refer to Brittany in different ways on their website either using terms referring to Brittany in the domain name, using Breton or gallo, using images (landscapes, architecture,...) or specific symbols (Breton flag, ermine ...).
Second largest region in France in IT, Brittany aims to create a gTLD which reflects its culture, its identity and its relationship with the internet.

= How the community is structured and organized. =

The Breton community is defined as all the people who feel attached to Brittany, its culture and its languages and wish to display this attachment by using a domain name.
Britanny area i.e. the Breton language and culture area extends over the region of Brittany and the ‘département’ of Loire Atlantique. These communities are run by elected councils which are related to all the Breton community networks, including Bretons established across the globe.
Breton culture is notably represented by the Cultural Council of Brittany. It is made of representatives of associations and institutions, as well as people working for Breton culture. The Council is in support of suggestions and advice on public cultural policies in Brittany.
The Breton language is notably represented by the Public Office of the Breton language (Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg). Its general task is to ensure the advancement of the Breton language in public life.
All of those institutions support the .BZH project (see question 20 f).

= When the community was established. =

The Breton community refers first to Brittany which is a territory known since antiquity and politically organized since the Middle-Ages in kingdom (9th century), duchy (10th century) and province (1532). Since the creation of French administrative regions in the 20th century, Brittany extends over the administrative French region of Brittany (80% of historical Brittany) and the ‘département’ of Loire-Atlantique.
Breton community is considering a .BZH gTLD for several years. The idea was launched in 2004 by French deputy Christian Ménard. The project was structured in 2008 around an association, www.bzh, merging all people involved in the .bzh project. This association has developed actions of communication and promotion on the gTLD geared towards the Breton community. All these efforts have raised the community’s awareness of the project. Evidence of genuine popular support, the petition to support online the gTLD has collected more than 20,000 signatures to date.

= The current estimated size of the community. =

The community is comprised of:
* Individuals and organizations located in Brittany, a western region of France (13,136 sq. miles) : the cultural and linguistic area hosts 4,481,000 inhabitants and more than 213,000 companies.
* Individuals and organizations around the world that wish to display their attachment to Brittany, its culture and languages. Figures are high and include in addition to the residents and the 500,000 speakers of the Breton languages:
* The diaspora, i.e. people of Breton descent around the world, estimated at between 4 and 6 million people.
* Tourists. Regular stays in Brittany are also a sign of attachment: Brittany is the 4th French region for tourism (97 million nights a year).