22 Describe proposed measures for protection of geographic names at the second and other levels in the applied-for gTLD

Prototypical answer:

22.1 Neustar’s Commitment to the Protection of Geographic Names at the Second Level

Neustar is keenly aware of the struggles that many local, state and national governments face in seeking to protect their geographic identifiers from misappropriation and⁄or misuse by third parties. Neustar which vigorously enforces a broad range of intellectual property rights including its own trademarks, logos, and trade names (collectively the Marks), understands first hand the economic benefit that the licensing of these rights can bring, and the ability of government to invest these resources back into the community.

In preparation for answering this question, Neustar reviewed, the following relevant background material regarding the protection of geographic names in the DNS, including:
-ICANN Board Resolution 01-92 regarding the methodology developed for the reservation and release of country names in the .INFO top-level domain (see http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄minutes⁄minutes-10sep01.htm);
-ICANN’s Proposed Action Plan on .INFO Country Names (see http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄meetings⁄montevideo⁄action-plan-country-names-09oct01.htm);
-“Report of the Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process: The Recognition and Rights and the Use of Names in the Internet Domain Name System,ʺ Section 6, Geographical Identifiers (see http:⁄⁄www.wipo.int⁄amc⁄en⁄processes⁄process2⁄report⁄html⁄report.html);
-ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Principles Regarding New gTLDs, (see https:⁄⁄gacweb.icann.org⁄download⁄attachments⁄1540128⁄gTLD_principles_0.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1312358178000); and
-ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Reserved Names Working Group – Final Report (see http:⁄⁄gnso.icann.org⁄issues⁄new-gtlds⁄final-report-rn-wg-23may07.htm).

22.2 Initial Reservation of Country and Territory Names
Neustar is committed to initially reserving the country and territory names contained in the internationally recognized lists described in Article 5 of Specification 5 attached to the New gTLD Registry Agreement at the second level and at all other levels within the .neustar gTLD at which domain name registrations will be provided. Specifically, Neustar will reserve:
-The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union (see http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU);
-The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and
-The list of United Nations member states in six official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

22.3 Potential Future Release of Two Character Names
While Neustar foresees no immediate need to make use of the initially reserved country names at the second level within the .neustar namespace, there is the potential that Neustar may wish to use two character domain names within the .neustar gTLD. Neustar recognizes that there has been several successful and non-misleading use of two character second level names by gTLD operators such as my.biz, ua.com, ge.com, etc. In the event that Neustar, as a brand top-level domain, wishes to use the two character strings for its own internal purposes, Neustar shall propose such use to ICANN of those strings in a manner designed to avoid confusion with the corresponding country code if any.

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