gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.art	Merchant Law Group LLP	merchantlaw.com	View

Question No. 18(b)

18(b).1 Goal

The goal of the .ART TLD is to provide a distinct online presence for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and entities that engage in the provision of services, products, or information related to art.


18(b).2 Innovation, Competition, and Differentiation

An ample supply of relevant .ART domains will be made available for interested persons and organizations to claim within the .ART domain space. Currently, there is no generic TLD specifically devoted to art. Instead, relevant online content related to art is dispersed among a variety of existing generic and country-code TLDs without the benefit of a unifying string.

The market for products, services, and information is changing. The Internet is now the foremost vehicle for marketing and communication worldwide. A .ART TLD will further help entities desiring to communicate about or provide products, services, or information about art to realize greater benefits and capitalize on more opportunities provided by the Internet. A .ART TLD presents an opportunity for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and related entities that engage in communicating about or providing products, services, or information about art to garner a more effective and differentiated online presence.

The .ART TLD will be a domain space which will be developed into the online standard for ideas, services, products, and information related to art.

The .ART TLD is a distinctive, succinct, and memorable TLD. MLG’s vision is to make .ART domain names prevalent among people, entities, and organizations that seek to communicate about or provide products, services, or information about art.

Many entities providing products and services related to art already have an established Internet presence. The .ART TLD allows for greater differentiation on the Internet, simplifies users’ choice when interacting and consuming art related online services, and offers new benefits and opportunities to anyone that engages in activities related to communicating about or providing products, services, or information about art. Any individual could be a prospective registrant and will be accorded all the opportunities and benefits of the .ART TLD.

A .ART TLD will provide a new, distinct channel for the consumption of art related Internet content by consumers. A .ART domain name will provide an enhanced platform for individuals and groups to broadcast and communicate about art related products, services, and information to an online population which now numbers over two billion.

The opportunity to carry out our mission and deliver our value proposition will always be contingent upon providing benefits that matter to our registrants, Internet users, and the online population. To that end, MLG will strive to ensure that the .ART TLD provides the best value for creating and developing an art related online presence. MLG’s long term strategy is to ensure that .ART domains become a “must-have” for all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and other related entities that engage in activities related to communicating about or providing products, services, or information about art.

A .ART domain will be the “best bang for the buck” registration by providing the best value for creating and developing a distinct, clear, and credible art related online presence. MLG will ensure that .ART domains provide the best quality-to-price ratios by offering competitive registration pricing and leveraging the core competencies of MLG and CentralNic.

MLG believes that .ART registrants will offer a variety services and content related to art. .ART’s target markets are broad enough to maintain a financially viable TLD and distinct enough that the .ART TLD will not become ‘just another .info’. A .ART TLD will provide a unique space on the Internet for art information and services. It will allow anyone to register a domain name and post information about products and services related to art. MLG’s vision for the .ART TLD mirrors the Internet’s growth as a transformative technology that enables the free and unfettered flow of information.

The introduction of the .ART TLD to the Internet will increase competition, provide opportunities for differentiation, and promote innovation.

The .ART TLD will provide an alternative to the current TLDs by focusing on art related content and catering specifically to all individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, and related entities that engage in communicating about or providing products, services, or information about art. .ART will serve as a force for differentiation as a distinctive namespace that simplifies users’ choice to interact and communicate about art. MLG expects that users will be able to navigate to .ART domains and subdomains intuitively, saving them time and resources.

The .ART TLD will introduce more relevant domain names into the Internet domain space. This will increase competition which should compel other TLDs to increase the quality-to-price ratios of their online presence offerings.

MLG hopes that the use of .ART domains will increase differentiation on the Internet. It is expected that the .ART TLD will substantially meet the online needs of its registrants. One of MLG’s goals with the introduction of the .ART TLD is to ensure that our target market registrants do not have to engage in unnecessary defensive registrations with other generic TLDs and country code TLDs. MLG will be marketing and branding the .ART TLD using strategies that continuously support and enhance the .ART TLD value proposition. MLG will continually invest in the .ART TLD brand to ensure that .ART registrants have a strong incentive to maintain their websites with substantive, regularly updated content that will lead to unique and sustained web traffic.

Currently, it is difficult to find relevant and easily recognizable domain names from existing TLDs. Even if one is found, pricing is often prohibitive because the domain name is often only available on the secondary market. The .ART TLD will allow people, businesses, organizations, and entities with an interest in communicating about art to register a relevant domain name immediately and the freedom to develop as many uses for their .ART online presence as they can imagine. An ample supply of relevant, generic .ART domain names will be available immediately and the innovative uses for these domain names will pay dividends for the online community in ways that are not currently quantifiable.


18(b).3 User Experience

The .ART TLD will enhance users’ Internet experience.

MLG intends for users to perceive the .ART TLD as a trustworthy platform of online information about art. MLG will adopt industry leading standards and policies to provide a safe and legitimate Internet space, enhance user experience by mitigating security-associated risks. These risks and policies are further described in our responses to Questions 26, 27, 28 and 29.

MLG will adopt policies that develop the .ART TLD in a manner that provides an easily navigable and predictable domain name space--for example, ‘geographicalname.art’ for localized websites, and ‘product.art’ for websites related to specific products or services. All of this will enhance users’ experience online by lessening confusion when browsing and interacting online.


18(b).4 Registration Policies

The .ART TLD will adopt contemporary registration policies.

The .ART TLD will be open and unrestricted, allowing anyone to select an appropriate .ART domain name for their own legitimate purposes. Illegal uses of .ART domain names will not be tolerated. MLG will implement an Acceptable Use Policy as further described in response to Question 28, and will implement the UDRP, URS, and all other ICANN-required rights protection mechanisms. Further, MLG will implement additional rights protection mechanisms as described in response to Questions 28 and 29. The price point of .ART will help ensure that .ART domains are not abused but are competitive against other TLDs.


18(b).5 Privacy Policies

The .ART TLD will adopt contemporary privacy policies.

We recognize and affirm the need for security of private and personal information on the Internet. We also recognize that the operation of a TLD necessarily involves the collection of personal information. MLG intends for users to perceive the TLD as a trustworthy indicator of the source of online information and services. User trust is enhanced when users are confident that their private or confidential information is securely protected. We intend to minimize any risks to our registrants by maintaining industry standard protocols for the protection of the personal and confidential information of registrants. With respect to Whois data, MLG will comply with ICANN policies and otherwise to ensure that complete and accurate Whois information is readily accessible for every .ART domain name. Moreover, MLG will offer additional Whois verification of each registrant’s email address as discussed in response to Questions 26, 28 and 29. Still further, MLG and its partners will scan the websites in the .ART TLD periodically for malware infusion, and take appropriate action for the benefit of Internet users.

MLG will deploy DNSSEC and will comply with all of the other policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and⁄or via any Consensus Policy. And of course, MLG will comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to Internet security and the privacy of users’ confidential information. Furthermore, CentralNic already employs commercially reasonable practices with respect to the security of online transactions and users’ private or confidential information.

Our approach to privacy on the Whois service is two-fold:
1. Our Whois service is rate limited to prevent ʺdictionaryʺ attacks where attackers try to obtain large volumes of Whois records by making repeated queries.
2. Contact objects associated with natural (as opposed to legal) persons can ʺopt outʺ of display in the Whois service, though their information is still made available via the secure Searchable Whois Service (SWS). Additional details can be found in our response to Question 26.


18(b).6 Outreach and Communications

MLG will engage in extensive outreach initiatives and communications campaigns for the .ART TLD

The use of .ART domains will effectively communicate the availability of the TLD to the intended audience, not only for the specific purpose at hand but also for more general or intuitive purposes. For example, a user who first sees an advertisement for ‘service.art’ may later directly navigate to ‘company.art’ to search for other services of the company. In addition to MLG’s own specific efforts to communicate the new TLD to its intended audience, MLG expects that audience and relevant media to further communicate the TLD as they discover the many domain names, websites and services located at a .ART domain. As the first generic TLD targeted to the provision of services, products and information related to art, MLG expects a substantial degree of publicity and word-of-mouth marketing within its target markets.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.home	Merchant Law Group LLP	merchantlaw.com	View

Question No. 18(b)

18(b).1 Goal


The goal of the .HOME TLD is to provide a distinct online presence for all individuals, families, groups, businesses, organizations, and entities to establish personal websites, commercial websites, or any other website or information resource intended for the World Wide Web.


18(b).2 Innovation, Competition, and Differentiation

An ample supply of relevant .HOME domains will be made available for interested persons to claim within the .HOME domain space. Currently, there is no generic TLD that has any significant number of relevant domain names available for registration. Instead, online content is confined to a variety of existing generic and country-code TLDs. The .HOME TLD has the capacity to be a unifying string for all personalized, informative, and interesting websites.

The online community has adapted to the unavailability of relevant domain names by utilizing current TLDs to deliver their personalized, informative, interesting content on the Internet. A .HOME TLD will further help individuals, families, groups, businesses, organizations, and entities to realize greater benefits, capitalize on more opportunities provided by the Internet, and garner a more effective and differentiated online presence.

The .HOME TLD will be a domain space which will be developed into the online standard for personalized, informative, and interesting websites.

The .HOME TLD is a distinctive, succinct, and memorable TLD that epitomizes the history and foundations of the Internet as an empowering, decentralized force that enables the free and unfettered flow of information. MLG’s vision is to make .HOME domain names prevalent among people, businesses, and organizations that seek and supply personalized, informative, and interesting websites.

A majority of the online community has had experience adding content to the Internet. However, most Internet users do not have a sophisticated, distinct, and personalized online presence. A .HOME TLD allows for the opportunity to build a sophisticated, distinct, and personalized online presence. A .HOME TLD provides greater differentiation on the Internet, simplifies users’ choice when interacting and consuming personalized online content, and offers new benefits and opportunities to anyone that engages in building websites that are personalized, informative, and interesting. The .HOME TLD will facilitate a greater distribution and understanding of local, regional, national, and global online content. Any individual could be a prospective registrant and will be accorded all the opportunities and benefits of the .HOME TLD.

The expansion of the Internet is inevitable and the online community is continuously embracing newer digital technology. In North America, it is estimated that four in ten adults own a smartphone and one in five adults own a tablet. However, if a small number of technology companies control mobile platforms, social networking, and corresponding social media channels, then Internet users and content providers will face challenges when attempting to publish personalized, informative and interesting websites. The availability of a .HOME TLD will help level the playing field by providing a new, distinct channel for the provision and consumption of personalized, informative, and interesting online content. A .HOME domain name will provide an enhanced platform for individuals, families, businesses, and groups to broadcast and communicate any information to an online population which now numbers over two billion.

The opportunity to carry out our mission and deliver our value proposition will always be contingent upon providing benefits that matter to our registrants, Internet users, and the online population. To that end, MLG will strive to ensure that the .HOME TLD provides the best value for creating and developing an online presence. MLG’s long term strategy is to ensure that .HOME domains become a “must-have” for all individuals, families, groups, businesses, organizations, and entities wanting to establish personal websites, commercial websites, and any other website or information resource intended for the World Wide Web.

A .HOME domain will be the “best bang for the buck” registration by providing the best value for creating and developing a distinct, clear, and credible online presence. MLG will ensure that .HOME domains provide the best quality-to-price ratios by offering competitive registration pricing and leveraging the core competencies of MLG and CentralNic.

MLG believes that .HOME registrants will offer a variety personalized, informative, and interesting websites. .HOME’s target market includes almost everyone which will maintain a financially viable TLD. The .HOME TLD is also distinct enough that it will not be ‘just another .info’. A .HOME TLD will provide a unique space on the Internet for new and original content. It will allow anyone to register a domain name and post, aggregate, or distribute digital content, services and products. MLG’s vision for the .HOME TLD mirrors the Internet’s growth as a transformative technology that enables the free and unfettered flow of information and ideas.

The introduction of the .HOME TLD to the Internet will increase competition, provide opportunities for differentiation, and promote innovation.

The .HOME TLD will provide an alternative to the current TLDs by providing individuals, families, groups, businesses, organizations, and entities a previously unavailable opportunity to establish personal websites, commercial websites, and any other website or information resource intended for the World Wide Web. .HOME will serve as a force for differentiation as a distinctive namespace that simplifies users’ choice to interact and communicate about online content, services, and digital products. MLG expects that users will be able to navigate to .HOME domains and subdomains intuitively, saving them time and resources.

The .HOME TLD will introduce more relevant domain names into the Internet domain space. This will increase competition which should compel other TLDs to increase the quality-to-price ratios of their online presence offerings.

MLG hopes that the use of .HOME domains will increase differentiation on the Internet. It is expected that the .HOME TLD will substantially meet the online needs of its registrants. One of MLG’s goals with the introduction of the .HOME TLD is to ensure that our target market registrants do not have to engage in unnecessary defensive registrations with other generic TLDs and country code TLDs. MLG will be marketing and branding the .HOME TLD using strategies that continuously support and enhance the .HOME TLD value proposition. MLG will continually invest in the .HOME TLD brand to ensure that .HOME registrants have a strong incentive to maintain their websites with substantive, regularly updated content that will lead to unique and sustained web traffic.

Currently it is difficult to find relevant and easily recognizable domain names from existing TLDs. Even if one is found, pricing can be prohibitive because the domain name is often only available on the secondary market. The .HOME TLD will allow people, families, businesses, organizations, and entities with an interest in establishing an online presence to register a relevant domain name immediately and the freedom to develop as many uses for their .HOME domain as they can imagine. An ample supply of relevant, generic .HOME domain names will be available immediately and the innovative uses for these domain names will pay dividends for the online community in ways that are not currently quantifiable.


18(b).3 User Experience

The .HOME TLD will enhance users’ Internet experience.

The .HOME TLD will function with leading-edge technologies and adopt business practices that ensure a trustworthy and positive user experience. MLG will work with registrants and relevant stakeholders to continuously garner feedback, advice, and suggestions and implement practices, technology, and policies that help meet and exceed the expectations of .HOME TLD users. One of MLG’s goals for the .HOME TLD is to ensure that the .HOME online infrastructure and aggregation of websites and services encourages Internet users to interact online more frequently and rely on .HOME domains for a significant portion of their online content needs.

MLG intends for users to perceive the .HOME TLD as a trustworthy platform of personalized, informative, and interesting websites. MLG intends to adopt industry leading standards and policies to provide a safe and legitimate Internet space, and enhance user experience by mitigating security-associated risks as further described in our responses to Questions 26, 27, 28 and 29.

MLG intends to adopt policies that develop the .HOME TLD in a manner that provides an easily navigable and predictable domain name space--for example, ‘geographicalname.home’ for localized websites, and ‘product.home’ for websites related to specific products. All of this will enhance users’ experience online by lessening confusion when browsing and interacting online.


18(b).4 Registration Policies

The .HOME TLD will adopt contemporary registration policies.

The .HOME TLD will be open and unrestricted, allowing anyone to select an appropriate .HOME domain name for their own legitimate purposes. Illegal uses of .HOME domain names will not be tolerated. MLG will implement an Acceptable Use Policy as further described in response to Question 28, and will implement the UDRP, URS, and all other ICANN-required rights protection mechanisms. Further, MLG intends to implement additional rights protection mechanisms as described in response to Questions 28 and 29. The price point of .HOME will help ensure that .HOME domains are not abused but are competitive against other TLDs.


18(b).5 Privacy Policies

The .HOME TLD will adopt contemporary privacy policies.

We recognize and affirm the need for security of private and personal information on the Internet. We also recognize that the operation of a TLD necessarily involves the collection of personal information. MLG intends for users to perceive the TLD as a trustworthy indicator of the source of online information and services. User trust is enhanced when users are confident that their private or confidential information is securely protected. We intend to minimize any risks to our registrants by maintaining industry standard protocols for the protection of the personal and confidential information of registrants. With respect to Whois data, MLG intends to comply with ICANN policies and otherwise to ensure that complete and accurate Whois information is readily accessible for every .HOME domain name. Moreover, MLG intends to offer additional Whois verification of each registrant’s email address as discussed in response to Questions 26, 28 and 29. Still further, MLG and its partners intends to scan the websites in the .HOME TLD periodically for malware infusion, and take appropriate action for the benefit of Internet users.

MLG will deploy DNSSEC and comply with all of the other policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and⁄or via any Consensus Policy. And of course, MLG will comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to Internet security and the privacy of users’ confidential information. Furthermore, CentralNic already employs commercially reasonable practices with respect to the security of online transactions and users’ private or confidential information.

Our approach to privacy on the Whois service is two-fold:
1. Our Whois service is rate limited to prevent ʺdictionaryʺ attacks where attackers try to obtain large volumes of Whois records by making repeated queries.
2. Contact objects associated with natural (as opposed to legal) persons can ʺopt outʺ of display in the Whois service, though their information is still made available via the secure Searchable Whois Service (SWS). Additional details can be found in our response to Question 26.


18(b).6 Outreach and Communications

MLG will engage in extensive outreach initiatives and communications campaigns for the .HOME TLD

The use of .HOME domains will effectively communicate the availability of the TLD to the intended audience, not only for the specific purpose at hand but also for more general or intuitive purposes. For example, a user who first sees an advertisement for ‘productname.home’ may later directly navigate to ‘company.home’ to search for other products of the producer. In addition to MLG’s own specific efforts to communicate the new TLD to its intended audience, MLG expects the online community and relevant media to further communicate the TLD as they discover the many domain names, websites and services located at .HOME domains. As a new, generic TLD targeted to everyone wanting to establish a personalized, informative, and interesting online presence, MLG expects a substantial degree of publicity and word-of-mouth marketing by potentially all Internet users.