18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Prototypical answer:

The NBA brings the excitement of basketball to millions of fans around the world. We expect NBA fans and Internet users will benefit if we are able to use the .nba gTLD to create a secure and trusted environment for fans to access official content and services, and to purchase authorized NBA product. Additionally, NBA fans and Internet users whose language scripts do not use Latin characters will benefit if we are able to use the .nba gTLD to easily employ IDN domain names and script-specific content and then integrate those domain names and content seamlessly with ASCII domains and Latin character content on .nba websites. Registration and use of .nba domain names will be limited to NBA Registry, LLC (NBA Registry) and its Affiliates (which include NBA Development League, LLC, NBA Digital, Inc., NBA Hong Kong Operations Limited, NBA Media Ventures, LLC, NBA Properties, Inc., and NBA Sports and Culture Development (Beijing Co., Ltd.)) and entities that have contractual relationships with NBA Registry or its Affiliates.

NBA partners will benefit from enhanced branding opportunities associated with our ability to offer NBA fans a completely immersive brand environment. If, over time, consumers come to recognize and rely upon a ʺbrandedʺ TLD such as .nba as a signpost of authenticity, we hope that such recognition and reliance may eventually disincentivize cybersquatters, counterfeiters, and others who seek to abuse the NBA brand online.

Areas of specialty, service levels, and reputation

The goals of the proposed .nba registry in terms of specialty are to: offer NBA fans and Internet users a secure and trusted experience when they interact with the NBA, NBA teams, and NBA partners through .nba websites; promote the NBA and its member teams; and protect the NBA family of brands. The service levels and reputation of the .nba gTLD will be of the highest level - commensurate with the NBAʹs reputation and the goodwill associated with the NBA brand.

Competition, differentiation, and innovation

We anticipate several ways in which the .nba gTLD may add competition, differentiation, and innovation to the current space. The .nba gTLD will differentiate the NBAʹs online presence from the host of other basketball-related destinations available online. Moreover, although a branded gTLD is inherently innovative - because there have not been previous opportunities to operate branded gTLDs - the .nba gTLD will provide fans an opportunity to take part in a particularly unique online space centered around the NBA, its Affiliates and partners, NBA member teams and their distinct brands. This space will offer a more targeted online destination for fans of the NBA and basketball, which would be easier to navigate than the current dispersed volume of content on traditional, general interest websites and social network platforms. Finally, the .nba gTLD would stand apart because it would allow fans to access NBA content directly in a secure, NBA-curated environment, rather than on other sites or social-networking platforms, where content and consumer access is not subject to a uniform set of security measures and privacy and confidentiality policies.

User experience

The .nba gTLD will offer fans all facets of the user experience they have come to expect from NBA.com and related sites, whether they crave the latest scores and statistics, digital media content, tickets to games, branded NBA merchandise, access to fantasy leagues, or information on initiatives like NBA Cares. The .nba TLD would facilitate NBA fans in forging a more direct connection with the NBA, NBA Affiliates, NBA partners and NBA member teams. We believe that the .nba gTLD will facilitate this goal, placing NBA content in a branded online space that has the potential to be more secure and authentic.

Intended registration policies

NBA Registry anticipates restricting registration and use of .nba domain names to itself, its Affiliates, and entities that have contractual relationships with NBA Registry or its Affiliates as of the date of registration. In addition to these eligibility requirements, NBA Registry anticipates reserving certain domain names at the second and third levels for use in connection with current or future projects of the NBA, in line with its business interests, and maintaining such domain names as unavailable to other eligible registrants.

NBA Registry also will comply with all relevant ICANN rules and restrictions pertaining to second-level domain names, as well as any restrictions arising out of trademark or other intellectual property law. Specifically, NBA Registry will adopt a .nba Domain Name Policy (nDNP) to govern registration of .nba domain names. Under the nDNP, all .nba domain names must meet the criteria below.

* must not be ʺexampleʺ;
* must be between 3 characters and 63 characters long, inclusively;
* must not contain a hyphen in the third and fourth position;
* may contain only numbers (0-9), letters (a-z), and hyphens, or some combination thereof;
* must not begin or end with a hyphen;
* must not match any character string reserved by ICANN; and
* must not match any protected country or territory name identified in the internationally recognized lists identified in Specification 5 of the New gTLD Agreement, unless NBA Registry secures permission regarding the release of such names from the relevant government, or pursuant to a proposal reviewed by the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee and approved by ICANN.

A name requirements check will ensure compliance with these requirements. Additional steps are eligibility verification, acceptable use assessment, and verification.

Eligibility verification will confirm that only eligible potential registrants - NBA Registry, its Affiliates, and entities that have contractual relationships with NBA Registry or its Affiliates - register .nba domain names.

NBA Registry will adopt and implement industry-standard terms and conditions of use and anti-abuse policies that are appropriate for the scope of the .nba gTLD. NBA Registry expects to include in these terms and conditions a provision that would prevent any registrant from assigning or transferring its .nba domain name without first obtaining approval from NBA Registry that the potential new registrant passes the eligibility verification process.

NBA Registry will require that WHOIS data for all .nba domain names is accurate and complete.

All .nba domain names shall be used solely for purposes that are, in NBA Registryʹs judgment and discretion, consistent with its mission statement and core values. .nba domains may not be used to knowingly infringe, violate, or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.

Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) may be supported at the second level.

Privacy and confidential information of registrants or users

NBA Registry, a Limited Liability Company organized in the state of Delaware, will operate the .nba registry. All data will be processed in accordance with applicable data protection requirements. NBA Registry intends to comply with the Personal Data obligations set forth in Section 2.10 of the Registry Agreement.

Outreach and communications

NBA Registry intends to engage in outreach and communications efforts that it deems are appropriate for actualizing the mission and purpose of the .nba gTLD.

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