18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

STAR INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (SIPL) is a leading media and entertainment company, broadcasting 33 channels in eight languages to more than 400 million people every week across India and more than 100 countries across the globe. Its channel portfolio includes household brands Star Plus, Star Gold, Channel [V], Star World, Star Movies, Star Utsav, Life OK and joint venture channels Asianet, Asianet Plus, Star Vijay and Suvarna. The business has greater breadth and depth than any other broadcaster in the country.

SIPL is a subsidiary of News Corp (http:⁄⁄www.newscorp.com⁄management⁄startv.html). News Corporation is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ and NYSE with ticker symbol NWS and revenues of US$33.4 billion in 2011. News Corpʹs U.S. holdings include Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and Twentieth Century Fox. SIPL has adequate funding and the financial backing that significantly exceeds any needs to manage the TLD.

SIPL’s mission⁄purpose is to establish an online extension that is immediately identifiable, secure, and exclusive for SIPL under the .STAR brand name; improve accessibility, usability and utility of the DNS; enhance user experience; creating a sustainable, competitive advantage through differentiation with a focus on innovation in the media and DNS space, business model diversification and customer service. With the .STAR TLD, SIPL will effectively differentiate itself by addressing the key online usage issues of safety, trust, consistency, and brand recognition associated with their brand and the millions of customers they serve globally.

.STAR will be used exclusively for SIPL to register domain names for their own use; and it will not be open for the public to register domain names under.
Under this mission the TLD will be operated as a critical public resource in an open, responsible, stable and secure manner with the highest level of technical security resources and mechanisms that are aligned with technical advancement and innovation in the TLD’s sector and industry.

STAR registry operations and its management of the DNS is consistent with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments (AoC) “ensuring accountability, transparency and the interests of global Internet users”, “enhancing the operational stability, reliability, resiliency, security, and global interoperability of the DNS” while “adequately addressing consumer protection, malicious abuse, and rights protection issues” (http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄about⁄agreements⁄aoc⁄affirmation-of-commitments-30sep09-en.htm).

SIPL guiding principles for .STAR:

STANDARDS COMPLIANCE, SECURITY, RESILIENCY, AND STABILITY
Afilias is the DNS Registry provider for .STAR providing a standard, secure and stable technical operation of the TLD. Details of technical and operational capabilities matching the .STAR mission are provided in responses to questions #23-44.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION AND TRUST
Since .STAR will be a single-registrant gTLD intellectual property protection will be at the highest level and not be a significant concern. All registrations associated with the .STAR domain will be conducted, authorized, and verified by SIPL on a case by case scenario through the process described in response to question #18b. This way all Internet users are assured the highest level of trust and authenticity when they visit a .STAR domain associated with the SIPLʹs brands.

There will be two phases in the .STAR launch. The first phase will be the Sunrise period that will incorporate all ICANN trademark protection requirements developed for new gTLDs, including the trademark clearinghouse. In the second stage SIPL will register domains and use them to cater to their existing customer base globally under their trusted brand.

Similar gTLD applications: (0)